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GlobalBees acquires Prolixr to enter personal care; third buyout in three months

By Beena Parmar

  • 25 Oct 2021
GlobalBees acquires Prolixr to enter personal care; third buyout in three months
Credit: 123RF.com

In its third acquisition in three months, GlobalBees Brands Pvt Ltd, a Thrasio-style venture that aggregates and invests in e-commerce brands, has bought home-grown millennial skincare brand Prolixr marking its entry into the personal care space. 

With the acquisition of the new-age brand, global investor SoftBank-backed GlobalBees has entered the personal care industry, which is expected to reach $37.2 billion in India by the year 2025, the company announced in a statement, without disclosing financial details of the deal. 

Earlier this month, GlobalBees had announced the purchase of Matrix Partners-backed andMe in its second buyout  making entry into the femtech space, preceded by the purchase of homecare brand The Better Home in August. 

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The Prolixr deal comes at a time when GlobalBees, an aggregator of digital brands, is also in discussions with two large investors to raise around $300 million at unicorn valuations, VCCircle reported last week. 

Launched in 2018, Prolixr is the brainchild of three best friends – Jayesh Hans, Mayur Mahajan and Aditya Sharma. Prolixr developed high-quality, affordable and international standard products with progressive formulations that cater to Indian skin types. 

The founders and the 25 plus-member team of Prolixr will become a part of the GlobalBees family. At present, the company is listed on over 25 marketplaces such as Nykaa, Amazon, Purplle and others. 

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Speaking on joining the GlobalBees team, Mayur Mahajan, co-founder of Prolixr, said, “This is a turning point for our company. We embarked on establishing Prolixr as an innovator in skincare wellness by creating research-backed products that appeal to the differentiated needs of the youth of this country. With GlobalBees, we strive to make our home-grown brand a leader in the Indian and global skincare market.” 

Nitin Agarwal, CEO of GlobalBees, said, “The Prolixr team has a deep understanding of what the youth are looking for in their skincare regimen. The company has established themselves as a market leader in their niche. With its unique offerings, proprietary products and undisputed know-how, the brand has a strong growth potential to disrupt the skincare market globally. We look forward to turbocharging Prolixr’s growth curve as a GlobalBees’ portfolio brand.”

GlobalBees

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GlobalBees was founded earlier this year by FirstCry founder Supam Maheshwari and a former executive at Edelweiss Financial Services, Nitin Agarwal, with a corpus of $75 million.

In July, it raised $150 million in a mix of equity and debt this July. The round was led by FirstCry and also got Lightspeed Venture Partners as a new investor. Other investors in the round included Vikas Agnihotri of SoftBank, Harsha Kumar of Lightspeed, Atul Gupta of PremjiInvest, Sudhir Sethi of Chiratae Ventures and Kshitij Sheth of ChrysCapital.

Global Bees, which aims to buy and consolidate brands that sell online as per a model popularised by US-based Thrasio, had said at the time that it plans to partner with digitally native brands across categories such as beauty and personal care, home, kitchen, food, nutrition, sports, and lifestyle, with a revenue rate of $1 million to $20 million. 

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Besides making strategic investments, GlobalBees also plans to help the brands scale and diversify their digital footprint through D2C channels. It further aims to support product development, branding and other key activities such as warehousing and logistics.

India is witnessing the rise of D2C brands across categories and is estimated to have a $100 billion addressable market by 2025, according to an October note by Avendus.

Among other Thrasio-style ventures in India, Myntra and Medlife executive Ananth Narayanan-founded Mensa Brands also attracted funds of around $50 million as part of its Series A funding round led by Accel, Falcon Edge Capital and Norwest Venture Partners earlier in May. 

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In August, UpScalio raised $42.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Presight Capital and an undisclosed global hedge fund.

Other aggregators of third-party sellers on ecommerce platforms, such as GOAT, Powerhouse91 and 10Club, among others have also raised funds capitalising this space recently.

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