Singapore headquartered Believe Pte Ltd, a fast-growing consumer products company serving the global Muslim audience with brands spanning skincare, fragrances, make-up and hair care has received commitments for its Series C funding of US $55M from incoming investors Venturi Partners and IIFL AMC alongside continued participation from Jungle Ventures, Accel, Alteria Capital and Genesis Alternative Ventures.
The company (started in mid-2019) has delivered rapid growth in its relatively short history, thereby inspiring investor interest and has cumulatively raised over US$ 80M over the last two years.
The Series A and Series B fund raises were led by Accel and Jungle Ventures with participation from Wamda Capital, a Middle East based fund. The current Series C raise in Believe's third year of operation is led by Venturi Partners, a Singapore-based investment platform founded by veteran consumer investor Nicholas Cator. Venturi Partners enables consumer-facing business startups to build disruptive brands in sectors such as FMCG, education, health-tech, home improvement, etc. in India and Southeast Asia. IIFL AMC's private equity fund that has backed several leading consumer brands will also co-lead this round, subject to approval from SEBI.
This is Venturi's second investment and is a testament to the investment platform's expertise in identifying and supporting multi-geography, high-growth consumer brands with an online and offline presence. Nicholas Cator, founder and managing partner,Venturi, said: "We are excited to be backing the most experienced BPC founders in the region and have been extremely impressed by their ability to build a diversified portfolio of products and a unique distribution network during a pandemic. We are convinced that with its strong team and group of investors, Believe will become the leading global halal and clean BPC house of brands."
With the likes of Swiggy, Licious, Dailyhunt, and Country Delight in its portfolio, IIFL AMC looks to back market leaders and disruptors across businesses, while keeping sight of profitability at steady state. Chetan Naik, fund manager at IIFL AMC, said: "Believe has demonstrated unprecedented traction and growth in a very short period via its brands focused on the global markets in the BPC segment. With its unique positioning of halal based clean products (devoid of alcohol and animal ingredients), it has addressed the latent need of a large target market in a highly focused manner. Its growth is a testament to how a relevantly positioned brand with strong product efficacy creates resonance with its consumer and creates value for all. We are delighted to partner with the exceptional team at Believe for the company's next phase of growth."
Believe is a house of brands that includes Lafz, ZM and Dr.Rhazes. The brands have received incredible customer love in Bangladesh and India with a growing base in GCC countries. They are sold in over eight countries and are manufactured across the globe including countries like South Korea, Italy, Spain, France, Germany and the UAE. While Lafz is the flagship premium brand crafted with traditional ingredients; ZM's vegan, cruelty free, single ingredient positioning finds popularity among the youthful and aspirational.
Believe's vision to create enduring brands consistent with consumers' belief systems while ensuring highest efficacy, quality and uniqueness drives its success across distribution formats in the Middle East and Asia. This fundraise will catalyse consolidating market share in Bangladesh and India (via strategic acquisitions) while deepening reach in GCC and South East Asia (through both organic and inorganic growth) paving the path to becoming a large global CPG conglomerate.
Ankit Mahajan, CEO, Believe PTE, said: "We have received tremendous consumer love all the way from launching our first product in 2019 to witnessing 2.5x growth in last one year. Our 2000+ family of happy believers is our eyes and ears to the ground that help us be nimble and responsive to consumer needs. We have created a relentless marketing organisation that has the ability to identify consumer needs, use of 12-member strong R&D expertise to make fantastic products and then put our international supply chain to deliver global standard products to countries across the world."
IndigoEdge, Bangalore (India) headquartered investment bank focused on new age consumer brands was the sole advisor for this transaction.
IIFL Asset Management (IIFL AMC) is a part of IIFL Wealth and Asset Management. IIFL AMC is an India-focused global asset management firm. IIFL AMC has been playing a pivotal role in the growth of the AIF industry in India. A disciplined and active management approach combined with research-led strategies allows IIFL AMC to tap into India's potential for delivering on its commitments and long-term growth. The AMC's diversified suite of mutual funds, alternative investment funds, credit funds and venture capital funds span public and private equities as well as fixed income securities and real estate. IIFL AMC's distinctive products bring out the entrepreneurial edge, agility and speed of execution of a boutique asset management business, while providing gold standards of corporate governance of a large corporation with a long-term focus.