Thrasio signals retreat from India, sells stake in Lifelong

Thrasio is signaling a retreat from India as the company has divested its stake in consumer durable company LifeLong. The US-based marketplace roll-up entered the country in January 2022 with the acquisition of the Gurugram-headquartered company.

Lifelong co-founders Bharat Kalia , Varun Grover and Atul Raheja, along with the company’s other backers Tanglin Venture and Hero Enterprise Partner Ventures have increased their stake by buying a portion of Tharsio’s stake.

Thrasio will continue to be an active investor and a strategic partner of Lifelong Online, the firm said in a press statement.

While the company did not mention the amount of exact holding divested in Lifelong, Entrackr’s sources outline that Thrasio has divested most of its ownership in Lifelong because it failed to make certain payments to Lifelong and its investors as part of the agreed terms. 

“…One thing that will remain unchanged is the strong commercial and strategic partnership between Lifelong and Thrasio," said a Lifelong spokesperson.

For the uninitiated, Thrsio acquires and scales brands which sell on Amazon. The company had a decent plan for India but its strategy changed in the second half of 2022 and decided to focus more in the US market. To cut costs, the company also laid off 20% of its workforce. 

Thrasio cornered around $3.4 billion from blue-chip investors including Silver Lake, Advent International, Upper90 and Oaktree among others.