Exclusive: Amid talks with Tiger Global, Mensa Brands raises $33 Mn

E-commerce rollup platforms in India inspired by the famed Thrasio model have continued to mop up fresh investment. After raising $50 million in a mix of debt and equity round, Mensa Brands has closed another $33 million from four existing investors.

Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI) and Norwest co-led this new round with $11 million each whereas Accel has put in $10 million, Mensa Brands’ regulatory filings in Singapore show.

Singapore-based late-stage investment firm Gablehorn Investments has invested $1 million in the six-month-old venture. Bergwelt, which represents the co-founders along with a few others’ stake in Mensa Brands, has also participated in this round with $580K.

The fresh money has come at a time when Mensa Brands is in late-stage conversations to raise a large round from Tiger Global, according to two sources familiar with the talks. 

“Tiger is likely to put over $60 million in Mensa Brands,” said one of the sources requesting anonymity. “The contours of the deal is almost final and if nothing goes wrong from here Tiger’s money will hit the company’s account soon.”

Tiger Global’s co-founder Scott Shleifer is already a stakeholder in Mensa Brands. He had invested $400K in the company’s first institutional round.

Earlier this month, a Moneycontrol report also said that Mensa is in talks with Tiger Global to raise a new round.

Mensa has declined to offer comment for the story while queries sent to Tiger didn’t elicit any immediate response. We will update the story if they respond.

According to Fintrackr’s estimate, Mensa has been valued anywhere between $195 to 205 million (post-money). With this, the company’s valuation has jumped over 3X in the past six weeks. It was valued $62-66 million in its Series A round.

Entrackr had exclusively decoded Mensa Brands’ last round on July 29.

Following the new proceeds, Accel has turned out to be the largest stakeholder among investors with 18% while AWI and Norwest hold 15.40% each. Bergwelt owns 48.81% in the Bengaluru-based venture while others including an ESOP pool worth 2.09%.

Akin to Thrasio, Perch and Branded, Mensa Brands will acquire direct-to-consumer or D2C brands in three verticals (home, lifestyle and beauty)  with a revenue between $1.5 to $10 million. It plans to acquire 50 brands over the next few years.

According to its website, it helps D2C companies with process optimization, growth hacking, demand planning, expansion and marketing. Mensa Brands competes with GlobalBees, GOAT Brand Labs, 10club, Powerhouse91 and Evenflow.

In the ongoing calendar year, marketplace roll-up platforms have raised over $350 million including $150 million in Global Bees, $42.5 million in UpScalio and $40 million seed round in 10club.