Beardo, the brand providing men a chance to make themselves look even presentable and dynamic, has today announced that widely popular FMCG giant Marico has acquired a 45 percent stake in their men’s grooming startup. The latter, for those aloof, is the primary company behind brands such as Parachute, Livon, Mediker, and Set Wet among others.
The financial details of this transaction have been kept under wraps. But, the official press statement says that Marico will be acquiring the said equity in the duration of next two years. The company further adds that the same will happen mostly through primary infusion and secondary buy-outs.
This investment from Marico is aimed at further diversifying its product range by tapping the fledgling ₹3,200 crore men’s grooming market. It can be seen a stepping stone for the company towards its ambition of becoming a household name for both women as well as men’s grooming. Speaking about the transaction in an official statement, Marico’s CEO Saugata Gupta said,
It fast-forwards our journey towards nurturing a future-ready male grooming portfolio and brand in the online and salon space. This partnership will help us access the emerging niches at the premium end and will turbocharge our digital marketing and social media engagement capability.
Headquartered in Ahmedabad, Beardo was founded in October 2015 by Ashutosh Valani and Priyank Shah. Starting out their journey with just beard oils, the company has now diversified its product categories to include beard washes, beard balm, beard & hair growth oil, serums, face washes, beard & hair wax, soaps, beard combs and more. Last year, it had raised $500,000 from Venture Catalysts, a seed investment and innovation platform. It was led by New York hedge fund manager Raj Vazirani at a valuation of ₹40 crores.
Commenting on the deal, Venture Catalysts’ co-founder Dr. Apoorv Ranjan Sharma said,
I would personally congratulate the founding team and am further excited at the prospect of newer opportunities opening up for the brand. We shall be closely watching their growth and scale in the times to come.
Owned by parent Zed Lifestyle, Beardo is already known as the best-selling men’s grooming brand on all prominent e-tailer platforms such as Flipkart, Snapdeal, and Amazon. But, it will now supplement Marico’s existing lineup of Set Wet products for men. Their new marketing strategy could soon involve further penetrating the offline market with support from the FMCG major.
The company is currently known to have a presence across 200+ salons across Ahmedabad, Pune, Mumbai, Surat & Delhi. Its strong online and offline presence, where the former accounts for 75%, is one of the primary reasons for Marico courting a deal with Beardo. It has already crossed a gross market value (GMV) of Rs. 120 lakhs(or $180k ) per month back in September 2016.
