TOP 9 BRAND ACQUISITIONS IN THE YEAR 2021
From just a handful of startups a decade ago to having 66 rapidly growing unicorns in the year 2021, there is no doubt that the Indian startup ecosystem is booming. India has added three ‘unicorns’ per month in 2021, as per a report by Hurun India, and there are still two more months to go. The year has been significant not just in terms of unicorns but acquisitions as well. The tech-driven, agile and asset-light business model of up-and-coming startups has caught the fancy of large companies and Thrasio-style aggregators. Nearly 155(and counting) companies have been acquired this year against 144 in the whole of 2020, with nearly $3.8 billion spent to acquire the 155 startups, according to data from Tracxn.
Below we list the top 9 brand acquisitions of the year 2021 that made the most buzz:
Bigbasket
In a bid to create a Tata super app, Big Basket was one of the first big acquisitions under current Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran. TATA Digital, a wholly-owned unit of the Tata group’s holding entity Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd bought a 64% stake in the Bangalore-based grocery giant at a post-money valuation of $2 billion, pitting it against rivals like Reliance Retail, Amazon, and Walmart.
Big Basket operates in more than 30 cities, offering a grocery assortment of more than 50,000 stock-keeping units with over 15 million customer orders each month. It also operates a farm-to-fork supply chain with a network of more than 12,000 farmers. Big Basket is owned and operated by Supermarket Grocery Supplies Pvt. Ltd. Tata Digital managed to get control of BigBasket’s retail and B2B business arms, as per the deal.
1MG
Close on the heels of the BigBasket acquisition; Tata Digital acquired a majority stake in online pharmacy 1mg Technologies Pvt. Ltd. making it TATA 1mg. The Company was founded in April 2015 by Prashant Tandon, Gaurav Agarwal, and Vikas Chauhan. The investment in 1MG strengthens Tata’s ability to provide superior customer experience and high-quality healthcare products and services in the e-pharmacy and e-diagnostics space.
The Company counts amongst India’s leading consumer health platforms. Tata1MG aspires to be the trusted health partner for all Indians, and its mission is to make healthcare accessible, understandable, and affordable for a billion Indians.
Yellow Chimes
Yellow chimes became GlobalBee’s fifth acquisition of the year, and with the acquisition, GlobalBees has forayed into the fast-evolving fashion jewellery market that is estimated to reach US$2.12 Billion by 2027.
Anuj Khemka and Megha Mittal launched Yellow Chimes in 2014 from a small home in Bangalore, Karnataka, which now turned into a 6000 ft warehouse, complementing the brand’s success. Yellow Chimes offers trend-fit and affordable jewellery across many online platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, and Myntra. It has gone on to serve nearly a million customers to date pan India. The brand has made its mark in the imitation jewellery market by catering to the fashion needs of both women and men with their extensive range of products that include necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings, nose rings, pendants, and more.
The Better Home
The Better Home became the first acquisition by India’s leading aggregator of digital brands, GlobalBees, which made waves by raising the country’s largest Series A funding round($150 million). The deal marked the beginning of GlobalBees’ plan to acquire 30 to 35 brands in a year, from various D2C categories, including fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), sports, home care, and lifestyle, among others.
The Better Home was a part of The Better India, a positive impact platform covering stories of changemakers in India. The Company was incubated at Better India in 2020. The Company develops sustainable home care products and sells on Amazon and other marketplaces.
With their world-class and innovative products, the Company has made over 40,000 homes safer across 400+ cities and towns in India, prevented over 380 million liters of water from being contaminated with harsh and dangerous chemicals, and saved nearly 450,000 plastic bottles from reaching landfills. The Company’s mission is to be a sustainable alternative to conventional products in homes in over 600 cities and towns in India, and as a GlobalBees Brand, the Company looks forward to expanding its horizon beyond India.
andMe
Within a month of acquiring The Better Home, GlobalBees acquired andMe – a women’s first research-led Company that emerged as a leader in the femtech space by serving the unique needs of women across menstrual health, hormonal health, beauty, and fitness.
Launched by Ankur Goyal, IIT-Delhi alumni in 2017, andMe is operated by Bengaluru-based Merhaki Food and Nutrition Pvt. Ltd. The Company makes products for women’s menstrual health, hormonal health, beauty, and fitness. andMe focuses on plant-based, preservative-free, chemical-free products, which are with no added sugar and help with women’s health issues such as UTI, PCOS, menopause, thyroid, to name a few. With a unique offering of combining Ayurveda and Nutrition together, the Company’s products have created a significant impact by making women’s health mainstream. Around 70% of the Company’s sales come from outside the top 5 cities, including small towns in eastern India, pointing to universal demand for their products.
The Moms co
The Good Glamm Group took over direct-to-consumer (D2C) mother and baby care brand The Moms Co for 500 crores, signalling the first big consolidation move in the beauty and personal care segment. The deal is the largest acquisition in the buzzy D2C beauty and personal care segment.
The brand has catered to over two million customers across 20,000 pin codes in India over the course of 4 years. The Mom’s Co aims to leverage the deal by using its access to Good Glam Group’s retail network and its customer reach of over 100 million across platforms.
Sunrise Foods
ITC acquired spices manufacturer Sunrise Foods Private Ltd (SFPL) in an all-cash deal valued at Rs 2,150 crore. The acquisition is a part of the conglomerate’s strategy to boost its packaged foods division and drive synergies in sourcing and supply chain from its agri-business arm.
Based out of Kolkata, the 70-year-old Sunrise had a turnover of ₹591 crores in FY20 and a net worth of ₹242.89 crores. The Company has a strong presence in the eastern and northeastern parts of the country.
Simplilearn
The leading ed-tech platform was acquired by Blackstone, an American alternative investment management company, for $250 million.
Founded in 2010, Krishna Kumar’s startup has been profitable for the fourth year in a row. The platform offers over 100 programs to help early to mid-career professionals acquire new-age digital skills across Cloud, DevOps, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Digital Marketing, Cyber Security, and more. Simplilearn offers programs in partnership with top global and Indian universities and enterprises to enable learners and professionals to develop digital skills and help businesses upskill their workforce.
Greatlearning
The Company has been taken over by India’s leading edtech Decacorn BYJU’s for $600 million.
Singapore-based upskilling platform Great Learning was founded by Mohan Lakhamraju, Arjun Nair, and Hari Krishnan Nair. Great Learning has helped over 20 lakh learners globally upskill themselves in new-age technology, and business management skills, and the Company saw its user base grow by five times since September 2020. The Great Learning Academy offers over 750 free courses in English and Hindi across domains such as data science, machine learning, etc.
