Comments
FirstCry.com (BrainBees Solutions Pvt Ltd) and Mahindra Retail (BabyOye), have consolidated their business activities to create a dominant presence in this segment.
The Board of Directors of the two companies at their respective meetings have approved this strategic move. In terms of the structure of the transaction, Mahindra Retail and FirstCry have consolidated their operations, with Mahindra Retail selling its Franchise business to FirstCry, and operating all company stores under a FirstCry master franchisee agreement.
FirstCry additionally has raised $ 34 million of new equity capital from the Mahindra Group, Adveq (a Large Pvt Equity Fund), Kris Gopalakrishnan and participation from all existing shareholders.
FirstCry has established itself as a leading player in India’s baby and kids market with a base of more than 3 million parents. It has followed an omni-channel strategy right from inception, having a presence on the web, on mobile and through physical stores that stand at 180 today.
Mahindra Retail has had a strong offline footprint with over 120stores that are a combination of large format high street and Mall locations and hospital stores, operating under the ‘BabyOye by Mahindra’ brand. Mahindra Retail has in January 2016 also finalised a preferred relationship with the world renowned brand Carters, to represent their apparel products in India.
This strategic consolidation of the industry’s leading players, creates India’s clear, unrivalled and single most dominant presence in this category, in the combined offline Retail and Online environment. The merged entity will conduct its business under the brand name FirstCry.com - A FirstCry Mahindra Venture.
FirstCry.com will have a parent base of over 4 million, a footprint of over 300stores spread across 125 cities, thereby becoming the go-to destination for world class brands and products in the mom, baby & kids vertical.
FirstCry was founded by serial entrepreneur Supam Maheshwari, who had previously built and successfully sold Brainvisa Technologies. He will continue as the CEO of the combined entity FirstCry.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.