Thrasio model businesses not suitable to India: GlobalBees CEO

In the next three years, the roll-up company is looking to be an umbrella organisation of 100 brands with revenues touching one billion dollars

GlobalBees is a roll-up business and not modelled on Thrasio, the company’s CEO Nitin Agarwal said. The house of brands approach of the start-up is not different from the likes of HUL, Arvind Fashion, Godrej or P&G, apart from the value-addition and types of brands being rolled-up in the business, he told Business Standard.

In the next three years, the company is looking to be an umbrella organisation of 100 brands with revenues touching one billion dollars. One of the focusses for the company is to make for the international markets from India -- and its constituent brands are already selling 10-15 per cent of their fare outside India. “We would like that to go up to 25-30 per cent,” Agarwal said.

It had raised $150 million in July through a mix of equity and debt in a Series A led by e-commerce firm FirstCry and some of its investors with additional participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners.

“If you look at the US ecosystem, Thrasio is possible because one marketplace dominates online retail and the second player is probably one-fifth in size. Secondly, the US is not a manufacturing hub anymore which makes it a very different ecosystem,” Agarwal explained. 

GlobalBees' current investments include four brands -- Yellow Chimes, a fashion jewellery brand; Absorbia, a home care brand; sustainable home care products company - The Better Home; women's health solutions company AndMe, and millennial skincare brand Prolixr. The company is in talks to close acquisitions of close to 20 brands within this financial year.

On the acquisition strategy, Agarwal said that the company is looking at major FMCG categories like food, beauty and personal care, home care, sporting goods, nutraceuticals and the like. It would play more in the core fashion category rather than high fashion. 

“We are looking at companies with a wide range of revenues -- from monthly run-rates of Rs 50 lakhs to Rs 20 crore. While we will stay away from businesses that are busting a lot of cash, acquiring the ones that have only a marginal burn rate is not a problem for us,” the CEO said.

One of the trends in e-commerce brands in the country currently is to become an omnichannel player -- the likes of Nykaa, SUGAR and Purplle are all ramping up their physical presence. GlobalBees’ brands too will operate brick and mortar stores in all the major segments -- general trade, modern trade, single brand and multi-brand stores.