The New Delhi-based firm raised one of the largest Series A financing rounds in India earlier this year.
The young firm disclosed in a regulatory filing that the investment firm led the Series B financing round. The filing shows that the round values GlobalBees at over $1 billion.
Existing investors SoftBank and FirstCry also participated in the $110 million equity round. The new round of debt investment by Trifecta Capital was $30 million.
GlobalBees is a company founded by Nitin Agarwal, formerly of Edelweiss Financial and a founder of FirstCry, that acquires and partners with digitally native brands across categories such as beauty, personal care, home and kitchen, food and nutrition, and sports and lifestyle.
GlobalBees helps these firms scale and sell to marketplaces in India and outside of the South Asian market.
Most brands reach a scale after which it becomes too difficult to scale them, and that's what we have learned from the past, according to an interview with the website. He didn't comment on the new fundraise.
We have been trying to find ways to disrupt this market for a long time. There is an opportunity to create a new house of brands that are digital-native.
GlobalBees was looking to acquire up to three dozen brands. GlobalBees was in different stages of talks to close deals with at least 15 brands according to a report by the CapTable.
GlobalBees has acquired some brands recently. The data is from Tracxn.
The Thrasio-model is a model that scores of startups in India are trying to duplicate. It took about two years for Thrasio to become a unicorn.
A similar venture by a former fashion e-commerce executive called Mensa Brands raised a Series B financing round that valued the startup at over $1 billion. It was six months old when the funding announcement was made. Titan Capital has invested in a startup. 10club raised 40 million dollars earlier this year, but most of it was in debt.
Several firms are trying to acquire brands that sell products in categories where there is limited competition. Even though some of the categories that are common among these brands are underappreciated, Amazon and other e-commerce firms have not explored them through their private label ecosystems.
India has more than 800 brands and is quickly becoming a market for direct-to-consumer brands.
Many investors believe that the Amazons and the Flipkarts of the world have laid the groundwork for digital commerce, and smarter and more profitable businesses can be built atop them.
Revenue based financing models will provide an alternate financing option to equity dilution conscious smaller D2C brands, while newer models on social commerce will continue to penetrate deeper into Bharat. Consumers will demand a post-checkout journey with auto filled card and customer details. According to a recent analysis, the gold rush will have the potential to reap big wins for startup companies.
Over 40 India-based startups have entered the unicorn club this year, up from 11 last year. Several high-profile investors, including SoftBank, have doubled down on their investments in the South Asian market.
