Valiant leads $26m Series D for India's FirstCry
Valiant Capital Partners has led a $26 million Series D round for Brainbees Solutions, the Indian start-up behind babies and children-focused retailer FirstCry.com.
Existing investors IDG Ventures India, Vertex Venture Management and SAIF Partners, also participated in the round.
Set up in 2010 by Supam Maheshwari and Amitava Saha - founders of Brainvisa Technologies - as an e-commerce platform, FirstCry is now a multi-channel retailer with over 100 branded franchisee stores across 85 cities in India.
The brand claims to offer 800 national and international brands with over 90,000 products, ranging from parent and baby accessories and apparel, to books and toys for children up to the 15 years of age. The company has four warehouses in Pune, Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai and also operates its own supply-chain and logistics network.
FirstCry has distribution partnerships with over 5,000 hospitals, reaching over one million new parents across India each year. It has also developed a significant online presence with mobile transactions accounting for over 50% of traffic.
AVCJ Research's show that Brainbees previously raised a $15 million in a Series C round led by Vertex - which is controlled by Temasek Holdings - in January of last year. The round also included SAIF, which led a $4 million Series A in 2011, and IDG, which led the $14 million Series B in 2012.
The company plans to use the new capital to expand its market share in the online, mobile and offline spaces. It will also invest in its private label business, BabyHug, which claims to be India's leading baby apparel brand.
"Supam and Amitava are seasoned entrepreneurial leaders who have demonstrated their ability to build and scale-up a world-class organization," said Chris Hansen, managing partner of Valiant Capital, in a statement. "We have been highly impressed with FirstCry's leadership and believe it is becoming one of the marquee e-commerce brands in India."
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