Marico acquires men’s grooming startup Beardo – and this VC firm exited with at least 5 times return on its investment

• While Marico already had a 45% stake in the company, it has now fully acquired the startup.
• Founded by Ashutosh Valani and Priyank Shah in 2015, Beardo is one of the popular startups in the men’s grooming industry.
• Venture Catalysts has invested $500,000 in Beardo and its returns have been 5-8 times of the investment.

Indian FMCG major Marico has acquired men’s grooming startup Beardo. While Marico already had a 45% stake in the company, it has now fully acquired the startup.

Marico had expected to complete the deal by March 2020.

Founded by Ashutosh Valani and Priyank Shah in 2015, Beardo is one of the popular startups in the men’s grooming industry. The company sells beard oils, beard waxes, soaps, and other facial hair products for men. It has actor Suniel Shetty on its board of investors whereas Hrithik Roshan is the brand ambassador.

With the acquisition, one of Beardo’s early investors Venture Catalysts has taken a complete exit from the company. Venture Catalysts has invested $500,000 in Beardo and its returns have been 5-8 times of the investment, said the firm and added that over the period Beardo’s revenues have grown over 40 times. In FY19-20, Beardo had reported a revenue of ₹78 crore.

“We were one of the first to have believed in Beardo’s true potential and the idea. Men’s grooming market has grown from a mere ₹3,200 crore in 2016 to a whopping ₹10,000 crore today, and this speaks volumes about VCats’s ability to spot potential startups. With Marico’s acquisition of Beardo, VCats has taken a complete exit at stellar valuations,” said Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Founder of Venture Catalysts.

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