Honasa Consumer, the parent of beauty and personal care brand Mamaearth, has acquired Cosmogenesis Laboratories, a research and development platform specialising in cosmetics, particularly natural and organic products, cofounder and CEO Varun Alagh said on Thursday.
In a stock exchange filing, Honasa said it was acquiring the firm for Rs 4 crore.
The deal is expected to be closed within the next four to six weeks.
“To further strengthen our R&D and our product development expertise, we are glad to announce the acquisition of Cosmogenesis Labs,” said Alagh in a post-earnings call. “As part of the transaction, we will also be acquiring a bunch of the formulation expertise, R&D labs as well as a nano manufacturing facility.”
According to Alagh, the acquisition will strengthen the company’s ability to innovate and deliver the right products to its consumers, speeding up growth and enhancing quality. Rohini Manoj, founder of Cosmogenesis, will be the vice president of R&D for the brand.
“We currently have a team of over 15 members in our innovation and R&D function but we wanted to further strengthen our expertise in crafting for India. The expectation is to further improve and work on the products that we have, to increase the acceptance and love amongst consumers,” he said.
Honasa had acquired two brands a couple of years earlier. In February 2022, it acquired Mumbai-based BBlunt from Godrej Consumer Products Limited. Later that year, in May, it bought Dr Sheth’s, a dermatologist-formulated premium skincare brand, at a valuation of Rs 28 crore.
The company had also acquired a content platform called Momspresso, which was subsequently shut down due to inefficiency in scaling.
Honasa Consumer currently operates seven brands – Mamaearth, The Derma Co, Bblunt, Ayuga, Aqualogica, Dr Sheth’s and the recently launched colour cosmetics brand Staze.
The firm reported a net profit of Rs 30.4 crore for the quarter ended March 2024, against a loss of loss of Rs 161.7 crore in the year-ago quarter. Revenue from operations in the fourth quarter increased 21% on year to Rs 471 crore.
Source: Economic Times