What brands will GlobalBees place bets on following its $150 million fundraise?

After its recent $150 million fundraise, investment firm GlobalBees is all set to discover potentially innovative brands and facilitate their growth. The New Delhi-based firm raised the funds in its Series A financing round. 

Ecommerce company FirstCry, Lightspeed Ventures, and existing investors were an active part of this fund infusion. New investor Lightspeed Ventures pumped in $75 million in equity and $75 million in debt and even with this equity raise, GlobalBees’ Series A funding remains the largest one in India to date.  

“GlobalBees’ vision is to create a large portfolio of innovative consumer brands which can create an impact across the world,” says Nitin Agarwal, Co-founder and CEO, GlobalBees. 

GlobalBees’ model of operation entails the company acquiring or partnering with digitally local brands across a multitude of categories. These brands are then helped with resources to scale their businesses and sell at online marketplaces that include Amazon and Flipkart. 

To give perspective on their category preferences, Nitin explains that GlobalBees is interested in consumer products that are repeatedly consumed at a certain frequency. Their focus is also on products that display longevity of stock-keeping units (SKUs), and the crux of their category lies in digital friendly ones. 

Going forward, GlobalBees would associate with categories of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), home organisation, sports and lifestyle, among others. 

The company is often compared to New York-based ecommerce company Thrasio that acquires small merchants listed on web marketplaces such as Amazon. 

GlobalBees was launched in 2021 by FirstCry’s co-founder Supam Maheshwari and Nitin Agarwal, Edelweiss’ former president and group investment office (CIO). The company aims to acquire and grow over 10 D2C brands. 

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[Funding alert] GlobalBees raises $150M in Series A to build a Thrasio-like house of brands

India’s D2C market is expected to mature into a $100 billion market by 2025 as per recent reports. The industry picked pace amid the pandemic as people had to primarily move to online mode of purchases. India is currently home to over 600+ D2C brands and the space has been creating buzz for the whopping fund infusion by VCs. 

Commenting on the company’s existing brands, Nitin says GlobalBees is not chasing startups based on valuations, and that it will continue to be choosy on the brands it looks to partner with. He claims the brand has already surpassed the annual targets set by the company. 

“By the time we finish our first full year, we should be anywhere between 30-35 in terms of our investment,” says Nitin on the number of brands it is aiming to acquire.

The company’s first acquisition is home care products company The Better Home. While the amount of the acquisition is not disclosed, as part of the deal, The Better Home’s core team of 15 members will join GlobalBees.