Ananth Narayanan's Mensa Brands Aims to Invest in Digital-First Brands

Mensa Brands, a house of brands started by Ananth Narayan, former Myntra and Medlife CEO, has secured $50 million in its Series A round of funding. The funding round has been led by marquee investors Accel Partners, Falcon Edge Capital, Norwest Venture Partners as well as prominent angel investors like Kunal Shah, Mukesh Bansal, Rahul Mehta of DST Global, and Scott Shleifer of Tiger Global. Mensa has also additionally raised debt financing facilities from Alteria Capital and InnoVen Capital.

The fresh capital will be utilized by the startup to nurture, accelerate and scale digital-first brands. Mensa is the latest venture in India to launch a 'Thrasio model' business, named after the popular American company, which is an acquirer of Amazon third-party private-label businesses.

Mensa plans to acquire over 50 brands across categories including home, garden, apparel, personal care, and beauty over the next 3 years.

Ananth Narayanan, Founder, and CEO, Mensa Brands, said, “Scaling digital brands from India is a large opportunity. Incredibly excited and passionate about partnering with terrific founders and helping scale their brands globally. Having seen this first hand at Myntra and Medlife we know the effort it takes to scale a brand digitally - we will be a true trustee of your brand.”

Earlier, Narayanan served as CEO of Myntra, Co-Founder and CEO at Medlife, and also, as a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company.

Niren Shah, Managing Director and Head of Norwest Venture Partners India, stated, “In Mensa, we see the birth of ‘Thrasio of India’ and are delighted to back Ananth and team on their vision to create India’s first digital House of Brands.”

Subrata Mitra, Partner at Accel Partners, added, “We are excited to partner with Ananth and the team at Mensa. Not only are they truly strategic and high caliber, but also have chosen a problem of brand aggregation that we believe has the right tailwinds. With the digital acceleration of commerce globally, this model would be additive to the brand owners, the platforms and the consumers and should thus scale rapidly.”