Chief Mom and Chief Dad
Like most good ideas that have their inception in a problem at one’s own hands, Ghazal and Varun got the idea to start Mamaearth when they struggled to find safe and non-toxic products for their baby and observed that all new parents around them struggle for the same.
After thorough understanding and research, The chief dad and chief mom set on a mission to bring you the best of nature through our purest and most nurturing products that are made without any toxins or harmful chemicals. In 2016, under the parent company Honasa Consumer Pvt Ltd, the couple launched MAMAEARTH a brand which provides India’s first with ‘MadeSafe’ certified products. The MADESAFE seals means that the product is literally made with safe ingredients that are not known or suspected to cause human health and environment harm.
It is also one of the few plastic positive brands in India which spreads awareness about plastic recycling and recycles more plastic than it uses.
Diversification is the key
The company that started with 6 products has now diversified into hair care, skin care and natural products with over 80 natural products specially designed to meet consumer specific needs.
With their primary strategy focussing on like-minded parents and customer acquisition through digital platforms, they managed to gain a huge customer base of 1.5 million customers.
They managed to raise $23.3 million in funding over 5 rounds with investors including Sequoia India, Stellaris Venture Partners, Fireside ventures, Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal among others. The duo also managed to get Shilpa Shetty on board due to the resonating cause of baby care. Shetty further became an equity investor investing $250 k in the company.
Unlocking Potential in Lockdown
In the current dynamic FMCG scenario, MamaEarth is facing competition from D2C companies in the baby care segment such as FirstCry, Mom&Me, Baby Chakra as well as the FMCG giants such as HUL, Johnson & Johnson among others.
However, Covid 19 has changed the situation for Mamaearth. The company propelled at a tremendous speed and even continued to work during lockdown. During the lockdown the business caught momentum due to tactful advertising and marketing apart from selling of essentials.
They focussed on Product iteration and new launches even during the lockdown and launched 12 new products.
To meet a larger addressable base and due to a heavy demand from tier 1 and 2 cities, mamaearth has realised the need for their presence offline and hence is expanding to retail stores.
To meet the requirements of the same, mamaearth is looking to add 200 employees to its base. After crossing the Rs 1000 crore mark in 4 years, Alagh said there are three things that the company will focus on – expanding offline presence, continuing to bring in innovative products, and leveraging the experience from Mamaearth to launch more brands to cater to various customer needs.
From an international perspective, I think in the next three years, we would want to first build scalable businesses, funnels, learnings around these few markets and once we have done that is when we would go aggressive to some of the larger markets out there…then from three years and beyond perspective is where we see it (international business) to be becoming a large contributor to growth,” he added.
It would be a pleasure to see a home-grown become a global leader in this space. Interesting times ahead.
This post was written in collaboration with Asif Yahiya Sukri LLP. Asif Yahiya Sukri LLP provides unparalleled personalized financial services to a broad range of clients across different geographical locations. With a presence in the USA, India and the MENA region, they ensure that all of your financial decisions are made carefully and with your best interests in mind. They are innovators who understand what goes into building companies.
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