FirstCry Subsidiary GlobalBees’ CEO Nitin Agarwal Quits

SUMMARY

While FirstCry attributed the resignation to “personal reasons”, sources told Inc42 that Agarwal is stepping down due to certain “health conditions”

Meanwhile, CBO of FirstCry’s pre-school segment and senior vice-president of marketing at parent Brainbees, Anuj Jain, has taken over as the CEO of GlobalBees

An alumnus of IIT Delhi, Agarwal cofounded GlobalBees in April 2021 and grew the company to a unicorn valuation in December that year

Kids-focussed omnichannel retailer FirstCry today said that the cofounder and CEO of its ecommerce roll up arm GlobalBees, Nitin Agarwal, has stepped down from his role and will exit the company.

In a filing with the exchanges, FirstCry said that Agarwal tendered his resignation due to “personal reasons”, without elaborating any further. However, sources told Inc42 that Agarwal stepped down due to certain “health conditions”.

Meanwhile, Anuj Jain, chief business officer of FirstCry’s pre-school segment and senior vice-president of marketing at parent Brainbees, took over as the CEO of the ecommerce roll up unicorn starting April 25. Jain has also been appointed as a senior management personnel (SMP) at the listed company.

“… We wish to inform you that Mr. Nitin Agarwal, Senior Management Personnel of Brainbees Solutions Limited…, and the Chief Executive Officer & the Director of Globalbees Brands Private Limited… has tendered his resignation, vide the letter dated April 24, 2025… due to personal reasons,” said the company in the filing.

An alumnus of IIT Delhi, Agarwal started GlobalBees, along with FirstCry cofounder and CEO Supam Maheshwari in April 2021 and grew the company to a unicorn valuation in December that year. He previously worked at companies like InCred, Citibank, and Edelweiss Financial Services Limited.

On the other hand, Jain is an alumnus of IIM Lucknow and Birla Institute of Technology Mesra. With more than two decades of experience at companies like ITC and L’Oréal, Jain joined FirstCry in 2012

Agarwal’s departure comes at a time when the kids-focussed omnichannel has seen a spate of top-level exits over the past couple of years. Here are some of them:

Damandeep Soni, CBO, GlobalBees (exited August, 2024)
Mohit Saxena, Senior VP, Globalbees (exited in February, 2025)
Abhishek Biswas, Category Head of home, kitchen, furniture, and appliances (exited in March, 2025)
Venkatesh SS, Executive VP, Operations
Deepak Khetan, CFO, and Head Corporate Development (exited June 2023)

Founded in 2021, GlobalBees invests in and acquires D2C brands that sell their products on Amazon India, Flipkart, and other ecommerce marketplaces. It partners with companies that have built products based on consumer insights in niche categories like fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), sports, home organisation, and lifestyle.

GlobalBees has raised about $175 Mn in funding to date and counts the likes of Lightspeed and SoftBank among its backers. The startup competes with players like BRND.ME (formerly Mensa Brands), Evenflow, and GOAT Brand Labs.

Over the years, it has acquired brands such as Yellow Chimes, The Clownfish, andMe, Candes Technology among others.

The publicly listed FirstCry owns a 51% stake in GlobalBees. Earlier this month, FirstCry infused INR 73 Cr in GlobalBees as part of the first tranche of the INR 146 Cr that the company intends to infuse in the step down subsidiary.