GlobalBees raises $18 Mn in debt from Avendus

E-commerce roll-up firm GlobalBees has raised Rs 150 crore or $18 million in a debt round from Avendus. This is the third debt round for the Delhi-based firm since its inception in 2021.

The board at GlobalBees has passed a special resolution to issue 1,500 non-convertible debentures at an issue price of Rs 10,00,000 each to raise Rs 150 crore or $18 million, its regulatory filing sourced from the Registrar of Companies shows.

The company will use these proceeds towards the working capital requirements and to meet general corporate expenses, the filings added. The non-convertible debentures have an annual coupon rate of 14.5%.

Roll-up startups like GlobalBees partner with online-first entrepreneurs, scaling D2C businesses globally and in India. They focus on brands with $1-20 million in revenue, offering capital and support in marketing, supply chain, R&D, and operations.

GlobalBees had raised over $270 million to date including its $111 million Series B round which made it a unicorn in December 2021. The company was last valued at around $1.12 billion. Notably, Series A and Series B also had debt components of $75 million and $30 million respectively.

According to the startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, FirstCry along with Supam Maheshwari holds 55.6% in GlobalBees while Chimetech Holding, Premji Invest, and Lightspeed command 12.8%, 6.95%, and 6.57% respectively.

During the fiscal year ending March 2023, its standalone revenue from operations surged 3.4X to Rs 65 crore whereas the company’s losses spiked two-fold to Rs 6 crore in the same period.

GlobalBees competes with the likes of Mensa Brands, GOAT Brand Labs, Evenflow, Upscalio and Powerhouse91. Mensa Brands posted a revenue of Rs 1,317 crore with a loss of Rs 329 crore in FY23. Upscalio recorded a revenue and loss of Rs 216 crore and 78 crore loss respectively in FY23.

Mensa also raised $76 million in debt across two tranches in 2023.