GOAT Brand Labs Bags $21 Mn In Debt & Equity To Bolster Cross-Channel Play

Roll-up ecommerce startup GOAT Brand Labs has reportedly raised $21 Mn in a mix of debt and equity from investors such as BlackRock, Mayfield, and NB Ventures. 

While the startup did not disclose the valuation at which the funds were raised, sources told Economic Times that the majority of the capital was secured via the debt financing route. 

As per a Moneycontrol report, the house of brands startup said “there are chances” that the size of the funding round may increase to $30 Mn.

For the uninitiated, roll-up ecommerce startups acquire and scale up multiple brands.

As per the ET report, the fresh capital will be utilised to “expand” GOAT Brands Labs’ play across multiple channels, including quick commerce, offline stores and exports, with a focus on growing brands like Chumbak, trueBrowns, The Label Life, Pepe Jeans Inner Fashion, Voylla, Petcrux and Nutriglow.

“Our brands are seeing good profitable scale up, with a couple of them just a few quarters away from the INR 100 crore ARR (annualised revenue run rate) mark,” GOAT Brand Labs cofounder Rishi Vasudev said. 

He also told the publication that GOAT Brand Labs’ current consolidated ARR is around the INR 370 Cr mark, adding that the Thrasio-style startup is looking to turn EBITDA profitable in the second half (H2) of the ongoing financial year (FY25).

Founded in 2021 by Vasudev and Rameswar Mishra, GOAT collaborates with D2C founders and helps them scale their brands.

It last secured $50 Mn in a mix of debt and equity in June 2022. Prior to this funding round, the startup had raised over $86 Mn. 

The fundraise comes at a time when the larger roll-up ecommerce space is in a tizzy. US-based roll-up ecommerce platform Thrasio filed for bankruptcy earlier this year and returned three months later after restructuring its operations and appointing a new CEO. 

Thrasio also sold a majority of its stake in consumer durables brand Lifelong India to the latter’s founders and other investors in May 2023.

Back home, startups in the roll-up ecommerce space such as Mensa Brands, The Good Glamm Group and GlobalBees have also been reportedly rejigging their operations and focussing on certain brands to grow “sustainably”. Upscalio even laid off 15% of its total workforce last year.

GOAT Brand Labs saw its loss jump 158% to INR 80.28 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 31 Cr in FY22. Meanwhile, operating revenue soared 746% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 139.6 Cr in the year ended March 2023.