Wipro Consumer Care, the personal care arm of Wipro Enterprises, has agreed to invest an undisclosed amount in consumer products firm Happily Unmarried Marketing Pvt. Ltd.
Happily Unmarried sells a portfolio of men’s and women’s grooming products under the brands Ustraa and Happily Unmarried, respectively.
“This investment is in keeping with the company’s strategy of leveraging emerging online opportunities brought about by rapid digitization,” Wipro Consumer Care said in a statement on Thursday.
Last September, Mint reported that Delhi-based Happily Unmarried was planning to raise Rs30-50 crore for its Ustraa brand. Ustraa’s sales crossed Rs10 crore until April 2016. The brand is expected to end financial year 2017 with sales of Rs40 crore, the report said.
Like Wipro Consumer Care, other larger consumer packaged goods makers have also invested in smaller niche ventures to boost growth, especially in the men’s grooming segment. For instance, Marico Ltd, which sells brands like Parachute and Livon, acquired a 45% stake in Beardo—a men’s grooming brand that sells beard oils, beard waxes, soaps and other grooming products for men’s facial hair. Unilever Plc. acquired online male grooming company Dollar Shave Club Llc in a deal said to be worth about $1 billion last July, according to reports.
The men’s grooming market in India grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.1% between 2000 and 2016, research firm Euromonitor International’s latest report showed. But it is forecast to grow at a significantly slower rate of 4.9% between 2016 and 2021, the report added.
Info Edge (India) Ltd, which runs the hiring portal Naukri.com and is an existing investor in Happily Unmarried, also invested Rs5 crore in the latter on Wednesday, according to a Reuters report.
Source: Mint