This aligns with FirstCry’s plans of diversifying beyond its core baby and mother care segment into broader consumer categories such as personal care, home care, fashion and lifestyle
Omnichannel kidswear brand FirstCry
will invest INR 146 Cr (about $17 Mn) in its ecommerce roll up business Globalbees Brands Private Limited.
The investment will be made by way of subscription to preference shares of Globalbees in one or more tranches over the next 12 months, FirstCry’s parent Brainbees said in an exchange filing.
Globalbees, the house of brands subsidiary of FirstCry, operates as a brand aggregator, acquiring, managing and scaling a portfolio of D2C brands across categories such as personal care, home care, fashion and lifestyle.
It competes with the likes of Mensa Brands, Upscalio, Evenflow among others in the wider house of brands category, as well as vertical-specific players as well such as 10Club Homes for home decor and interiors, Nykaa with its beauty products or TMRW with its focus on fashion and lifestyle.
Additionally, the Supam Maheshwari-led unicorn will invest about INR 21 Cr (~$2.4 Mn) in its wholly-owned foreign subsidiary Firstcry Management DWC LLC, UAE (FC Management), as per the company’s exchange filing. The proceeds will be used to set up stores and warehouses in Saudi Arabia.
Following the announcement, shares of FirstCry slipped nearly 5% during the intraday trading today to hit an all-time low of INR 355.20 apiece on the BSE.
Behind FirstCry’s Diversification Push: After building an empire around its core kids and mother care segment, FirstCry is expanding into broader consumer categories with an eye on achieving profitability.
Soon after the INR 4,194 Cr IPO last year, GlobalBees increased its stake in consumer appliances brands Frootle and Wellspire, spending more than INR 106 Cr in two all-cash transactions.
It also infused an additional INR 8 Cr in the D2C brand The Butternut Co, and purchased additional stake in Solarista Renewables, the company behind the ‘The Clownfish’ brand, for INR 5.88 Cr.
The diversification into new consumer segments has allowed FirstCry to scale its revenue. The company reported a revenue of 2,216.58 Cr in Q3 FY25, out of which INR 422.3 Cr came from its roll up business.
On the back of growth in its top line, FirstCry managed to trim its consolidated net loss by nearly 70% year-on-year to INR 14.8 Cr during the December quarter.
