The firm houses a total of 25 brands under its umbrella across fashion, beauty, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), and content like Villain, Pebble, Folkulture, and MyFitness.
The company’s men’s lifestyle and personal care brand Villain, smart wearables brand Pebble, and home décor label Folkulture will have a presence on Amazon and regional ecommerce platform Noon in the UAE. Villain has already launched on Amazon.
On the other hand, peanut butter brand MyFitness from Mensa Brands’ FMCG offering has launched on middle-eastern food and grocery delivery major Talabat, and is set to launch on regional quick commerce service Noon Minutes this week.
“Expanding our footprint to the UAE is more than just a geographical move. Villain, Pebble, Folkulture, and MyFitness are pioneers in their respective domains, and we’re excited to see them flourish in this new digital landscape,” founder and chief executive of Mensa Brands Ananth Narayanan said.
“Looking ahead, we’re setting our sights on introducing our fashion brands to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia across all platforms, embracing new horizons and extending our connection with audiences in diverse markets,” he added.
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The firm is backed by the likes of Alpha Wave Global, Accel Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and Tiger Global Management, and Prosus Ventures. It closed a debt financing of $36.3 million in February this year, led by debt platform TradeCred. Prior to that, Mensa Brands had raised $135 million in November 2021, after which it was valued at $1.2 billion. Mensa’s international expansion comes as ecommerce brand aggregators have also seen a slowdown in growth rates of acquired brands in the domestic market. The direct to consumer D2C sector is seeing a wave of consolidation as well. In January, competitor Goat Brand Labs bought Chumbak in a distress sale and four other D2C brands, taking its portfolio to 20.
In December, Hindustan Unilever Limited invested in Zywie Ventures, which sells plant-based supplement brand Oziva, and Nutritionalab. In November, Aditya Birla Group’s ecommerce roll up venture TMRW said it would be investing Rs 290 crore in eight D2C brands, including casual wear brand Bewakoof.
Mensa Brands acquired MyFitness for an undisclosed amount in September 2022, with the aim of making it a Rs 1,000 crore brand in the next 3-4 years. It acquired Pebble in June 2022, also for an undisclosed sum, and Folkuture in 2021, bringing it to the Indian market.
In December 2022, it acquired digital lifestyle content platforms MensXP and iDiva and influencer management and marketing company Hypp from Times Internet, the digital arm of the Times of India group, for an undisclosed sum.