Mensa Brands Posts INR 96.62 Cr Loss In FY22, Operating Revenue At INR 186 Cr

Thrasio-style ecommerce rollup unicorn Mensa Brands posted a net loss of INR 96.62 Cr in the financial year 2021-22 (FY22), which was the startup’s first-ever year of operations, having been founded in May 2021.

During the financial year, Mensa Brands recorded a total income of INR 217.89 Cr, of which INR 186.15 Cr was revenue from operations. The unicorn notched up another INR 31.75 Cr in other income, as per its filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).

Mensa Brands’ total expenses stood at INR 315.44 Cr in FY22, taking the unicorn in the red. Of the total expenses, the largest chunk was attributable to ‘miscellaneous expenses’ at INR 101.06 Cr, or nearly a third of the total expenses.

While the entry was a part of ‘other expenses’, the company did not specify what the ‘miscellaneous expenses’ were.

Other significant expenses included the purchase of stock-in-trade (INR 74.88 Cr), cost of materials consumed (INR 56.05 Cr) and employee benefits (INR 30.53 Cr).

Founded by former Myntra CEO Anath Narayanan, Mensa Brands acquires digital-first brands across various verticals and then scales them up. Some brands associated with Mensa’s ‘house of brands’ include Pebble, Karagiri, MyFitness and Pretty Krafts.

The Thrasio-style unicorn has acquired more than 20 startups, with its most recent acquisitions being MensXP, iDiva, and Hypp from Times Internet. Inc42 exclusively reported in June 2022 about Mensa Brands’ acquisition of MensXP and iDiva for a combined $100 Mn.

The startup became India’s fastest unicorn in 2021 when it reached a valuation of over $1 Bn in November 2021, six months after it was founded. It has raised over $300 Mn from investors, including Accel Partners, Prosus, Tiger Global, Alpha Wave and Norwest Ventures and CRED’s Kunal Shah to date. 

Mensa competes with GlobalBees, GOAT Brand Labs, UpScalio, and THG in India’s ecommerce rollup market. The segment has quickly risen in popularity, with ecommerce rollup startups raising $176 Mn in funding in 2022, according to Inc42 data. The segment was also among the top 10 best-funded subsectors within ecommerce.

Update | February 6, 2023, 11:00 PM

Mensa Brands was founded in May 2021 and hence did not have operations in the entirety of FY22. The headline and the story have been edited to reflect this.