Thrasio-Style 10Club Moves NCLT To Initiate Insolvency Proceedings

SUMMARY

10Club’s board has given its nod to file insolvency application under Section 10 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016

The startup said that the company’s assets are not sufficient to pay off the debts

Founded in 2020 by Bhavna Suresh, Joel Ayala and Deepak Nair, 10Club partners with ecommerce product sellers in India by acquiring their businesses

10Club is winding down its operations soon as the Thrasio-style startup has initiated insolvency proceedings before the national company law tribunal (NCLT).

As per an MCA filing assessed by Inc42, 10Club’s board has given its nod to file insolvency application under Section 10 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 and held a meeting to obtain shareholders approval on it.

Entrackr reported the development first.

The startup in its explanatory statement said that its assets are not sufficient to pay off the debts and keeping in view that the company prima facie appears to be insolvent.

Founded in 2020 by Bhavna Suresh, Joel Ayala and Deepak Nair, 10Club partners with ecommerce product sellers in India by acquiring their businesses and working with their teams to help them grow.

The Bengaluru-based startup counts Fireside Ventures, Secocha Ventures led by Sanket Parekh and boAt founders Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta among its backers.

It raised $40 Mn in seed funding in 2021 which made headlines as India’s largest seed fundraise back then. 10Club acquired its first D2C brand My Newborn that sells baby care products including blankets and swaddles in 2021.

The 10Club was modelled after Thrasio, the Massachusetts headquartered ecommerce company that came to prominence in 2020 as it consolidated third-party sellers on Amazon in the US. Launched in 2018, it acquired prominent third party sellers or fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) businesses and claims to provide better economies of scale to manage and grow those acquired businesses.

It reviews the “top-reviewed, bestselling, essential” product charts on Amazon, and looks to acquire the brands from small business owners.

Notably, US-based Thrasio also entered the Indian market in 2021 with its first local acquisition of Delhi NCR-based home appliances startup Lifelong Online.

Since Thrasio model went popular, many ecommerce aggregator joined the bandwagon in India including Bengaluru-based BRND.ME (erstwhile Mensa Brands), Supam Maheshwari’s FirstCry’s GlobalBees, Rishi Vasudev’s GOAT Brand Labs, Utsav Agarwal & Pulkir Chhabra’s Evenflow, Presight Capital-backed Upscalio, and FJ Labs-backed Powerhouse91.

These aggregators are adopting growth strategies as GlobalBees expanded its portfolio through full acquisitions of The Butternut Co and GOAT Brand Labs focused on multichannel expansion across quick commerce, offline stores and exports.

Last month, Evenflow secured fresh capital from Venture Catalysts and others as part of its ongoing Series A funding round totalling $5 Mn.

Tiger Global-backed house of brands startup BRND.ME is raising INR 48 Cr debt funding from existing investor Stride Ventures as reported in April.