Ananth Narayanan-led Mensa Brands acquires home decor label Folkulture

Deal value undisclosed; Folkulture retails largely on Amazon in North America and UK; is recognised for unique and elegant crafts, designed to embellish modern homes with a hint of bohemian culture

Mensa Brands, a technology-led ‘House of Brands’ built for the e-commerce industry has acquired Folkulture, a home décor label born in India that caters majorly to the US and UK markets. Since its inception in 2015, Folkulture has evolved into a leading home décor and kitchenware brand in the digital-first space, offering contemporary-chic, sophisticated and affordable styles across categories. The companies didn’t reveal the value of the transaction.

“Folkulture is an important partnership for us in the burgeoning home décor category, which is one of our focus areas considering its potential in the domestic and overseas markets. We have created a roadmap for Folkulture to grow 10x by 2025,” said Ananth Narayanan, Founder and CEO of Mensa Brands. “We will also be looking at adding more channels and products for the brand in the months ahead, while also strengthening its presence in key global markets.”      

Folkulture retails largely on Amazon in the US, Canada and UK, apart from various other online platforms and is well recognised for its unique and elegant crafts, designed to embellish modern homes with a hint of bohemian culture. Some of the leading product categories include kitchen and dining linen, home décor, incense holders and mandala tapestry. It is carefully curated to appeal to the modern sensibilities of today's consumers. What started as an interest-based project by two young individuals from the confines of their home, is now a growing decor label in the US home market. During the recent Cyber Monday Sale, it clocked an average of two units of sales each minute.

“With Mensa, we are positive that Folkulture will see exponential growth in the next few years, and we are immensely proud to have such an amazing team backing our brand,” said  Rinkesh Mehta and Chaiti Jain, co-founders of Folkulture, said,

The home market has seen immense growth both in India as well as globally offering brands such as Folkulture a very strong opportunity to scale, with the right mix of product, marketing, logistics and inventory management. This is where Mensa comes to the fore with a vision to scale digital-first brands exponentially.

Mensa acquires digital-first brands operating in different categories, including fashion and apparel, home and garden, beauty and personal care, food, and others. The enterprise closes end-to-end acquisitions within 4-6 weeks. Mensa believes that e-commerce in India is at an inflection point of non-linear growth offering the best opportunity to build global brands from India. Mensa recently became India’s fastest and globally the second-fastest unicorn or a startup with over $1 billion valuation, as it raised its $135 million in Series-B funding.