Ananth Narayanan's Mensa Brands announces investments into 10 D2C brands

Mensa Brands has invested in 10 digital-first brands across fashion, home, and beauty. The founders and their teams will become a part of Mensa.

In a statement, Ananth Narayanan, Founder and CEO of Mensa Brands, said, “We are excited to announce our partnership with ten remarkable founding teams that have created beloved digital brands. We are committed to propelling their journey forward and working together to build global breakout brands from India. At Mensa, we are passionate about using technology to build digital brands that are rooted in bringing joy to our customers.”

Mensa aims to partner and invest in D2C brands and scale them exponentially. Over the next three years, Mensa aims to acquire over 50 brands across — home, garden, apparel, personal care, and beauty.

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The partner brands include–

Karagiri sells high-end, designer sarees for the modern woman and is based out of Pune. Founder Pallavi Mohadikar Patwari mentioned, ”We are thrilled about building a digital-first saree brand out of India. We believe that the Mensa team is best positioned to help us with this journey. The process of the partnership was fair, fast and founder-friendly.”

Priyaasi, a traditional and contemporary jewellery brand from Delhi, sells pieces of traditional artwork and materials in modern designs, making them relevant for all occasions.

Dennis Lingo, a men’s casual wear brand from Mumbai, is a leading player in shirts on Indian marketplaces.

Ishin, a women’s ethnic wear brand from Mumbai, is known for its range of traditional as well as fusion Indian Clothes Collection, such as kurtas, kurtis, sarees, drapes, and accessories.

“We are excited to partner with Mensa as they are an experienced team that understands how to sustainably scale brands on e-commerce “, said Charu Agarwal, Founder of Ishin.

She added, “Over the past couple of months working with Mensa, we have already started increasing our sales by working together on growth, supply chain, and marketing, leveraging working capital, data, technology, and the team’s ecommerce experience.”

Hubberholme is an affordable men’s casual wear brand from Delhi with a focus on high street style fashion and athleisure.

Anubhutee, a women’s ethnic wear brand from Jaipur, is known for its high quality, stylish and traditional designs, handcrafted to suit consumer sensibilities and aspirations.

Helea, a smart home-device company from Mumbai, focuses on improving lives through innovative and affordable IoT products with a mission to make life easier, safer and greener for a better tomorrow.

Villain, a men’s personal care company from Ahmedabad, offers a range of fragrances, apparels, and accessories, including sunglasses, gym wear, and more.

These brands pan across five cities and serve millions of customers in India and around the world.

Ashutosh Valani, Co-founder of Villain (who has previously founded the men’s grooming company, Beardo), commented, “We really look forward to being a part of the Mensa family. We will work together to build Villain into a household-name lifestyle brand for men across India. This is the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership, one that hopefully lasts across many brands.”

Mensa partners with brands that have revenue between $1 million and $10 million. It targets digital-first brands operating in different categories, including fashion and apparel, home and garden, beauty and personal care, food, and others.

It has offices in Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Gurugram and plans to scale its team exponentially in the coming months, hiring across growth, product, finance among others.