Mensa Brands closes $40 million debt-financing round from EvolutionX
Summary
Mensa Brands, the roll-up e-commerce company founded by former Myntra CEO Ananth Narayanan, has closed a $40 million (around Rs 330 crore) debt-financing round from EvolutionX. The startup has also issued convertible notes as part 0f the round.The money will be spent on marketing and the company also will invest in tech to improve operations. The Bengaluru-based company closed a Rs 300-crore debt round from TradeCred in February.We plan to use this new funding to continue building consumer-loved brands for the next-generation of India, Ananth Narayanan, founder and CEO of Mensa Brands said in a prepared statement.Startups typically take loans to avoid diluting equity in the company. Founded in 2021, Mensas founder Narayanan has already diluted about 60 percent of his stake and holds the remaining 40 percent, according to Tracxn, a private markets data provider.Mensa has raised $200 million so far, including $135 million it raised in a Series B round, and was last valued at $1.2 billion, becoming Indias fastest unicorn.E-commerce companies are increasingly focusing on Gen Z shoppers, or the cohort that is touted to be the next generation of shoppers in India. In May, US-based Thrasio, the global roll-up e-commerce player, divested the bulk of its holdings in Lifelong Online, the only firm it acquired in the country and scaled back operations.Even Mensa had a round of layoffs as it restructured operations after a slowdown.