FirstCry Pumps Another INR 20 Cr Into GlobalBees, Raises Stake To 51.68%

Continuing its spree of investments in GlobalBees, kids-focussed omnichannel company FirstCry has now announced a further investment of about INR 20 Cr.

In an exchanges filing, the company informed that it has invested INR 19.96 Cr in the subsidiary for 89,886 shares. With this, its shareholding in the startup has now increased from 51.51% to 51.68% on a fully diluted basis.

The investment was originally made in the form of convertible loan and was due to be converted into Series C3 Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS) within a period of two months. Pursuant to the conversion, GlobalBees has to return a small difference of INR 21,000 between the loan value and the final allotment to its parent company. 

The further investment comes just days after the company completed its INR 146 Cr investment in Globalbees. With an equity infusion of INR 73 Cr, the company increased its stake in GlobalBees to 51.51% on September 11. 

Important to note that GlobalBees had raised slightly over INR 100 Cr as part of the round announced earlier last week. 

Founded in 2021 by Nitin Agarwal and Supam Maheshwar, GlobalBees acquires and scales D2C brands across categories like beauty and personal care, home essentials, kitchen, wellness, nutrition, among others. 

Besides its parent FirstCry, it also counts the likes of SoftBank, Premji Invest, Lightspeed, among its investors. The roll-up startup entered the unicorn club in December 2021 after securing $111 Mn in its Series B round.

Its most recent investments include an INR 9 Cr investment in portfolio brand HealthyHey Foods and acquired 10% stake in BPC startup Cloud Lifestyle for INR 60.3 Lakh. 

While the subsidiary is flush with funds, it is also facing a fair share of challenges at the moment. These include an insolvency plea of INR 65 Cr filed with the NCLT, the exit of CEO Nitin Aggarwal in April, along with multiple resignations of investor-nominated directors and senior leaders.

On the financial side, Globalbees reported Q1 FY26 losses of INR 20.8 Cr, up 6% YoY, while revenue grew 31% YoY to INR 426.5 Cr. Parent company FirstCry narrowed its consolidated net loss by 12% to INR 66.5 Cr during the same period, with revenues rising 13% to INR 1,862.6 Cr.

Shares of FirstCry ended today’s trading session up 0.14% at INR 390.20.