Marico acquires men’s grooming startup Beardo

• Marico already owns 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 famous startups in the men's grooming industry.
• Venture Catalysts invested $ 500,000 in Beardo and their returns were 5-8 times the investment.

Indian FMCG major Marico has acquired Beardo Men's Grooming startup. While Marico already owns a 45% stake in the company, he 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 famous startups in the men's care industry. The company sells beard oils, beard wax, soap, and other facial hair products for men. It has actor Sunil Shetty on its board of directors for investors, while Hrithik Roshan is the brand's ambassador.

With the acquisition, one of the first investors in Beardo Venture Catalysts completely left the company. The company said Venture Catalysts invested $ 500,000 in Beardo and its returns have been 5-8 times of investment, adding that Beardo’s revenue during the period has grown more than 40 times. In the fiscal year 2019-2020, Beardo had reported a revenue of ₹78 crores.

"We were one of the first to have believed in Beardo’s real capabilities and ideas. The men's grooming market grew from just ₹3,200 crores in 2016 to whopping ₹10,000 crores today, and that shows a lot about VCats' ability to spot potential startups. " Aburfa Ranjan Sharma, founder Venture Catalysts said: "With Marico acquisition of Beardo, VCats has taken a complete exit at stellar valuations."

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