TMRW, a wholly-owned unit of Aditya Birla Fashion Retail Ltd, is all set to buy majority stakes in three startups, in what would be its first step towards creating one of India’s largest portfolio of disruptor brands in the fashion and lifestyle industry, said at least two people aware of the matter.
The venture is in the final stage of discussions to buy a controlling stake in Hyderabad-based Urbano Fashion, run by Imperial Online Services Pvt. Ltd; Hyderabad-based Pratyaya E-Commerce Pvt. Ltd, which markets its offerings under the brand name Nobero; and Ahmedabad-based Awesomefab Shopping Pvt. Ltd, which sells its products through its portal Veirdo.com.
The size of the potential deals couldn’t be immediately ascertained. “It may vary depending on the revenue and potential of each of these brands and also for future transactions,” said one of the persons cited above, requesting anonymity. He added that talks are progressing with more brands and the company is likely to soon onboard some of them.
While a spokesperson for TMRW declined to comment, queries emailed to the startups remained unanswered till press time.
Launched in 2016, Urbano Fashion offers jeans, t-shirts, shirts, trousers, track pants, shorts, and winter wear for both men and women. While the products are currently available on leading online marketplaces including Myntra, Amazon, Flipkart and Limeroad, Urbano has also launched its own website to sell the products.
Nobero was initially launched as MyDreamStore.com, which acted as a marketplace for apparel where individuals can buy and sell individualized products. However, the more than eight-year-old company later changed its strategy and now operates as a fast-fashion apparel supplier.
Fashion commerce startup Veirdo was launched in 2016 to offer trendy and affordable clothing to young men. By 2019, it expanded to launch a womenswear brand, Juneberry, to make the most of the rise in female fashion shoppers in India. It claims to offer more than 300 designs spanning more than 1,500 stock-keeping units, and several apparel categories.
Launched by the diversified Aditya Birla Group in June this year, TMRW plans to either acquire or incubate more than 30 innovative brands.
The decision to float the venture was taken up by the group, keeping in line with its strategy to launch and back new-age digital ventures. The group also roped in former Meta and Bain & Company executive Prashanth Aluru to head the new entity.
ABFRL has been otherwise widening its portfolio of brands, both by acquiring licences for international brands in India as well as investing in homegrown ethnic wear labels. This has helped the retailer move beyond the formal men’s clothing segment.
In January this year, it took a 51% stake in House of Masaba Lifestyle Pvt. Ltd. Last year, it signed a long-term licensing pact to exclusively sell Reebok products in India and other Asean countries. In 2021, it acquired a 51% stake in luxury designer label Sabyasachi, besides its partnership with fashion designer Tarun Tahiliani. In 2019, ABFRL bought omnichannel ethnic wear retailer Jaypore for ₹110 crore.
This May, the board of ABFRL agreed to sell a 7.5% stake to GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, to raise up to ₹2,195 crore to fuel its expansion plans in the branded apparel market.
