Exclusive: D2C brand The Man Company raises Rs 50 Cr from Emami

Men focused direct to consumer or D2C grooming brand The Man Company has raised around Rs 50 crore primary capital from Emami making it the third investment by the FMCG major in the six-year-old Gurugram-based company.

The Man Company’s board has passed a resolution to allot 49,665 equity shares to Emami Limited at an issue price of Rs 9,617.05 per share to raise Rs 50 crore, regulatory filings show.

With the fresh infusion that comes after its last investment in 2019, Emami has emerged the largest stakeholder in The Man Company and now controls a 45.96% stake and the collective holdings of its co-founders Hitesh Dhingra, Bhisham Bhateja and Parvesh Kumar have been diluted to 36.5%.

According to Fintrackr’s estimate, the company has been valued somewhere in the range of Rs 255-270 crore in this transaction.

The string of investments from the Kolkata-based multinational corporation anticipates that it may acquire The Man Company at some time in the future. It’s worth noting that Beardo, one of the early evangelisers in the men’s grooming space, was acquired by Marico. 

Like Emami, Marico also backed Beardo in most of its funding rounds before taking over the company in 2020.

The Man Company manufactures and retails grooming products in skin and hair care verticals. It competes with Marico-owned Beardo, Ustraa, The Bombay Shaving Company and The Bare Anatomy which has been floated by its alma mater.

Unlike D2C brands in the women's beauty space, the growth of men focused grooming brands have been sluggish. For instance, the five-year-old MamaEarth had surpassed Rs 100 crore revenue mark in FY20 whereas Sugar Cosmetics also crossed the three-digit figure in the fiscal ending March 2020. In comparison, Marico-owned Beardo and Ustraa had recorded revenues of Rs 78 crore and Rs 60 crore in FY20 respectively.

Experts believe that the men's grooming market is growing but at its own slow pace. The size of the market for men's grooming space is a fraction of that of the women’s space. 

“There was no space for D2C brands in the men grooming space five years ago. However, this market has now grown anywhere between Rs 600-800 crore,” said one of the venture capitals who have invested in the space. “Market for D2C brands in the men grooming space would grow with increasing awareness but it would take several years to reach a sizable scale.”