Exclusive: Tiger Global invests in Mensa Brands at over $250 Mn valuation

Marketplace roll up platforms in India have been witnessing unprecedented interest from investors of all sizes. Over half a dozen companies in the space have mopped up over $350 million from angels to high profile investors such as SoftBank and Tiger Global.

After investing in Goat Brand Labs, Tiger has now placed another bet: Mensa, in the same segment. Mensa has raised $10 million from Tiger Global, the company’s regulatory filings in Singapore show. The fresh tranche for the firm has come after raising $33 million co-led by Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI) and Norwest.

Entrackr had exclusively reported the tranche on August 23 which valued Mensa at $200 million.

Valuation and current shareholding structure

According to Fintrackr estimates, Tiger has valued Mensa anywhere between $250-$260 million. With this, the company’s valuation has jumped 28.2% as compared to the last funding tranche in August.

Tiger is likely to put another $50 million in Mensa, as per sources.

Following the transaction, Tiger has picked up a 4.12% stake in Mensa while Accel Partners is the biggest stakeholder among investors with a 17.5% holding. Bergwelt, which represents co-founders, owns 46.80% of the six-month-old firm. See below the pie chart for Mensa’s complete shareholding structure.

Business model and competition

Similar to Thrasio and Perch, Mensa will acquire direct-to-consumer or D2C brands in three verticals (home, lifestyle and beauty) with revenue between $1.5 to $10 million. According to its website, Mensa helps D2C companies with process optimization, growth hacking, demand planning, expansion and marketing. 

It plans to acquire 50 brands over the next few years and competes with GlobalBees, GOAT Brand Labs, 10club, Powerhouse91, Upscalio and Evenflow. 

While the marketplace roll up space is just starting in India, many believe that it’s getting over-crowded. At present, there are seven major companies operating in space and all of them are funded. In fact, some of them are hyper-funded. 

GlobalBees had raised $150 million in a mix of equity and debt round whereas Upscalio and 10Club had raised $42.5 million and $40 million respectively.