GlobalBees enters unicorn club with $110 million funding led by Premji Invest

The company plans to use the funds to further strengthen its product portfolio and further product innovation, improve customer experience, hiring talent and scaling companies. GlobalBees is now more than 100 people strong. The company said “it is in advanced talks with more than 20 companies to strengthen its portfolio of digital first brands.”

Trifecta Capital has also invested $30 million in debt in the startup, the filings, sourced through business intelligence platform Tofler, showed.

“With this investment, we are well setup to become India’s largest brand platform,” said Nitin Aggarwal, CEO of GlobalBees. “We are in august company of exceptional founders who have built great companies online. With this infusion of capital, we can work together to take these companies global.”

The company plans to invest in 100+ brands across verticals over the next three years, including fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), sports, home organisation, and lifestyle.

Baby products e-tailer FirstCry, which holds 50% stake in the startup, has invested $53 million, while SoftBank has put in over $10 million.

The latest funding values GlobalBees at just over $1 billion, according to ET’s rough estimates. GlobalBees has, with the fresh capital infusion, has become the second among a group of Thrasio-style ventures. Recently, Mensa Brands, founded by former Myntra chief executive Ananth Narayanan entered the unicorn club of Startups which are privately held with a valuation of $1 billion or more.

Mensa Brands achieved unicorn status within six months of starting operations, the fastest startup to do so. Other Thrasio-style ventures in India include 10Club and Goat Brand Labs.

Startups such as GlobalBees invest in promising sellers on e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart and Myntra, and work along with their founders to sell better. These startups can provide the marketing expertise for such sellers to stand out from the crowd on e-tailers.

US-based Thrasio — which pioneered this business model in 2018 — is also looking to enter India, ET has reported previously.

GlobalBees said in the filing that it requires additional funds “for the growth and expansion of its business and for general corporate purposes.” The startup had raised $150 million in its Series A round from FirstCry, SoftBank and PremjiInvest in April, half of which was debt funding.

GlobalBees’ investments include Yellow Chimes, a fashion jewellery brand; Absorbia, a home care brand; sustainable home care products company, The Better Home; women’s health solutions company AndMe, and millennial skincare brand Prolixr.