Mensa Brands raises Rs 300 Cr debt from TradeCred

E-commerce roll up company Mensa Brands has raised Rs 300 crore debt from TradeCred. The company received new money after a gap of 15 months.

Mensa plans to utilize the funds for new brand acquisitions and grow them through product development, supply chain integration, and working capital investment, the company said in a statement.

Launched in May 2021, Mensa became India’s fastest unicorn after raising $135 million in a Series B round led by Alpha Wave Ventures.

Mensa partners and invests in digital-first brands across fashion and apparel, home and garden, beauty and personal care and food and scales them exponentially. To date, the company claims to have partnered with 25 brands. It recently acquired MensXP, iDiva, and Hypp from Times Internet for an undisclosed amount.

The company now has around 700 employees across offices in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Gurgaon, UAE, and the US and claims to have served more than 10 million customers.

TradeCred, founded by Hardik Shah in 2018, is an alternative debt platform with Rs 2,200 crore of AUM. As per the release, around 50 UHNIs via TradeCred collectively participated in Mensa's Rs 300 crore financing arrangement.

The company also counts Norwest Venture Partners, Prosus, Tiger Global and debt financing platforms Alteria Capital, InnoVen Capital, Oxyzo, and Stride Ventures as its backers.

Mensa directly competes with GlobalBees, Goat Brand Labs, Evenflow, 10club, and Powerhouse91.

The Thrasio-style company registered around Rs 310 crore in revenue during its first year of operations. As per Fintrackr’s analysis,  the sale of products from these acquired companies was the only source of revenue for the Ananth Narayanan-led company. The firm registered a loss of $16.41 million (Rs 120 crore) in the last fiscal year.