Why FMCG Sector is the Big Focus for GlobalBees?

GlobalBees is an aggregator of digital brands that transforms marketplace sellers into international brands loved by millions. The company invests in, acquires, and grows seller businesses across Amazon, Flipkart, and other marketplaces.

GlobalBees has offices in Delhi and Bengaluru. The company has developed assets and expertise in marketing, technology, logistics, and product innovation. 

“We look at a product or a category that we invest in and the characteristics are simple - the product has to be universal. When we say universal, not just in India, but across the globe in terms of its appeal. The second characteristic that we will look at is the longevity of the product,” asserts Nitin Agarwal, CEO, GlobalBees Brands.

“We have recently acquired The Better Home. It caters to a specific customer differentiation and its products are biodegradable. So, it creates a very unique positioning, and again, as a product, it has a repeat consumption every day, we would use it at your home, etc. Going ahead, in all our investments and acquisitions, we will see some of these characteristics repeating,” he further adds.

GlobalBees is not focusing on the services currently; however, it is laying great importance on the products.

Business Model

GlobalBees, which follows the Thrasio-style model, is looking to work across the spectrum and planning to work with brands that may be as old as 30 years into the business or maybe as new as a year into the business.

“However, given some of our thesis, we tend to receive more aligned companies which are younger than the older ones. But we constantly look at the older ones, and quite a few conversations on that account are always present. These are the companies where the brands are trying to discover themselves and rediscover themselves and have a strong foundation of a brand product or a category, but also trying to rediscover themselves with the changing ecosystem, he asserts.

Initially, the startup targets to acquire a majority share of any brand, and then in the next 2-3 years, it plans to 100 percent acquire and integrate the brand. The founder of the brand generally stays with the brand that GlobalBees is working with for a significant period of 2-3 years to have an idea of the clear vision with which that brand was set up.

“GlobalBees as a platform provides the entire ecosystem for them to enable, for that vision. And the ecosystem obviously starts with a capital, distribution channel, operations, efficiency, marketing efficiency, the technology platform, and the ability for them to take these brands to every facet of every distribution channel, both online and offline, and to international markets. 

The Big Focus

GlobalBees is planning to bet big on the FMCG sector as it can be further divided into many categories like food and home cleaning, beauty and feminine hygiene, etc.

“Sports and fitness are a big focus area for us. We are also focusing upon basic apparel brands which have a high repeat consumption. Similarly, in footwear, we like the high repeat usage category, rather than the very high fashion category,” he states.

GlobalBees, the startup which looking to acquire only Indian brands currently, is eyeing $1 billion in revenue in three years.