Decoding Mensa Brands’ equity round, valuation and shareholding structure

E-commerce rollup platforms in India inspired by the famed Thrasio model have been breaking records in terms of raising funding. Four such yet to be operational companies: GlobalBees, Mensa Brands, GOAT Brand Labs and 10club have collectively mopped up $276 million in the past couple of months. 

FirstCry-backed GlobalBees broke all records by raising $150 million (half equity and half debt) in its maiden round whereas Mensa had announced $50 million worth of funding in a mix of equity and debt financing. While both have held back crucial details such as valuation, round-breakup and shareholding structure, Fintrackr has decoded Mensa’s equity round via its regulatory filings sourced from Singapore.

Mensa has raised $22.2 million co-led by Accel Partners, Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI) and Norwest Venture Partners. The three VC firms had invested $7 million each. 

Tiger Global’s co-founder Scott Shleifer also participated in the Series A round with $400K cheque whereas Quadrifolio Venture Capital and Cars24’s early backer Rahul Raj Mehta have invested $200 and $150K respectively.

Naresh Shah, Curefit  co-founder Mukesh Bansal, DailyHunt co-founder Umang Bedi, Gopal Srinivas, Swati Nigam, Aries Health Limited, xto10x co-founder Saikiran Bellur and Swati Nigam have invested $50K each while Unitus’ chairman Narayan Ramchandran joined the round with an investment of $25K.

According to Fintrackr’s estimate, Mensa has been valued in the range of $62-66 million (post-money) in the Series A round.

Following this round, Mensa’s promoters (majorly Ananth Narayanan) have emerged as the largest stakeholder in the company with 57.6%. Importantly, Narayanan owns a stake in Mensa through Bergwelt Pte. Accel is the second-largest shareholder, controlling a 16.4% stake.

Alphawave and Norwest own 12% each in the few months old venture. It looks like Accel also invested in Mensa before this round as filings reveal that it owns ordinary shares in Mensa. This seems to be the reason behind Accel owning more stake than the two aforementioned VCs.

Shleifer owns 0.7% stake in Mensa whereas other angels collectively control the remaining 1.30%.

According to Entrackr’s sources, the Narayanan-led company would raise over $25 million in a debt round from Innoven, Alteria and a few others.

Queries sent to Mensa on Wednesday didn’t elicit any response until the publication of this story. We will update the story in case the company responds.

On the lines of Thrasio, Perch and Branded, Mensa will acquire direct to consumer or D2C brands. The company will acquire over 60% in digital-first brands with a topline up to $10 million.

The company competes with GlobalBees, GOAT Brand Labs, 10club, Powerhouse91 and Evenflow. Last month, Bhavna Suresh-led 10club raised $40 million in its seed round whereas Powerhouse91 scooped up two undisclosed rounds in January and July. 

Evenflow had raised an undisclosed seed round in May. According to Entrackr’s sources, Evenflow is also in talks to raise $6-7 million in its first institutional round.