E-commerce roll-up company Goat Brand Labs has successfully raised $21 million in debt and equity from investors including BlackRock, Mayfield, and NB Ventures, among others. This latest funding comes after an over two-year hiatus for the Bengaluru-based firm.
The company anticipates closing this funding round at approximately $30 million. The fresh capital infusion will accelerate the growth of its portfolio brands such as Chumbak, trueBrowns, The Label Life, Pepe Jeans Inner Fashion, Voylla, Petcrux, and Nutriglow.
Goat Brand Labs operates as a marketplace roll-up platform that acquires and scales direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands using its extensive expertise. Currently, the company has around 19 subsidiaries under its umbrella.
The company’s revenue from operations soared by 746%, reaching Rs 139.6 crore in FY23, up from Rs 16.5 crore in FY22. However, its losses also grew by 158%, rising to Rs 80.28 crore in FY23 from Rs 31 crore in the previous fiscal year.
Co-founder Rishi Vasudev expressed confidence in the company’s trajectory, projecting a profitable revenue of over Rs 500 crore annual run rate (ARR) within 9-12 months.
Before this round, Goat Brand Labs had raised a total of $87 million. In its last funding round, Tiger Global emerged as the largest external stakeholder, followed by Flipkart and Mayfield India.
The e-commerce roll-up space has experienced a notable decline in funding over the past couple of years compared to the 2021-22 period. While Mensa Brands has managed to secure debt financing regularly, other players in the sector have either pivoted or faced scaling challenges. Recently, GlobalBees raised $18 million in debt from Avendus after a similar two-year gap in funding.
Globally, the Amazon aggregator Thrasio faced near-bankruptcy but has recently emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and appointed Stephanie Fox as its new chief executive officer.
