Meolaa Raises $6 Mn To Launch 2 New BPC Brands

House of brands startup Meolaa has raised $6 Mn (around INR 53 Cr) in its pre-Series A funding round led by General Catalyst, with participation from Ranjan Pai’s family office Claypond Capital, Colossa Ventures, CRED founder Kunal Shah, and a host of undisclosed existing investors. 

The Bengaluru-based company plans to deploy the fresh capital for brand expansion, to integrate AI infrastructure for predictive analytics, and expand its geographical footprint.

Meolaa plans to launch two new brands in the beauty and personal care (BPC) category in the next 18 months. Currently, the startup operates fragrance brand HIRA.

“We have three more brands in the pipeline currently. Two will be in the beauty and personal care space and the third will be in kitchen essentials/ F&B space,” Meolaa founder Ishita Sawant told Inc42.

Founded by Sawant in 2022, Meolaa was initially a marketplace for D2C brands offering sustainable products. While operating as a marketplace, Meolaa raised $2 Mn in its seed funding round in 2023. 

However, the startup pivoted to become a house of FMCG brands, with the launch of HIRA six months ago. Sawant claimed that HIRA grew to a recurring monthly revenue of INR 1 Cr within three months of its launch. 

Talking about the use of AI, Sawant said that Meolaa is leveraging AI for market research, consumer market intelligence and data analysis in the initial phase of brand building. Additionally, it is using agentic AI in daily decision making tasks across creative workflow automations, performance marketing automations,and CRO automations.

“If we’re building an FMCG house in today’s 21st century, the only way to build it is with the intervention of technology and AI and that will be the backbone of what we build,” Sawant told Inc42. 

The Rise Of D2C Brands 

For decades, India’s FMCG space was dominated by legacy brands like Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), ITC Limited, Dabur India, Marico and many others. However, a number of digital-first D2C brands have emerged over the past few years. These brands are leveraging technology to disrupt the market. 

India’s D2C space is on course to become a $300 Bn market by 2030, powered by rising digital adoption, evolving consumer demand, and relentless innovation.

As a result, established FMCG companies have gone on to acquire D2C brands to spruce up their portfolios. For instance, HUL acquired D2C skincare brand Minimalist earlier this year, while Marico recently acquired additional stake in the parent entity of healthy snacks startup True Elements to increase its shareholding to 100%. 

Earlier, ITC acquired D2C brands like Meatigo and Yoga Bar, while Marico acquired Beardo, Just Herbs, among others.