SuperCluster Pi, a House of Brands (HoB) start-up has raised $2Mn in the seed funding round led by Bobby Balachandran of Exterro Inc with participation from marquee angel networks such as Inflection Point Ventures (IPV), Hyderabad Angels, Faad Network & AngelBay.
Key social influencers including Bhuvan Bam, Ranveer Allahbadia of Beer Biceps, Praful Billore (MBA Chaiwala), Arvind Arora (A2) among others have also invested in the round.
The HoB is building an ecosystem of Health & Wellness focused D2C brands, powering them with playbooks to scale exponentially. The start-up intends to use 70 percent of the fresh funds to make acquisitions and the rest to fuel the growth of the brands, expand its team and enhance its brand marketing activities. SuperCluster Pi is targeting acquisitions of 6-8 D2C brands over the next 12 months, and aiming for $20m in Annualized Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) run-rate.
SuperCluster Pi was founded by Vishnu Prasath Devarajan in 2021. Backed by a workforce of 100+ team members with expertise in Digital Marketing & Scaling Brands, the HoB acquires and scales up D2C brands that are consumer centric, problem solving and socially conscious.
The startup has acquired a total of three D2C brands over the last 6 months, reaching 30,000+ consumers every month. It currently works with ByNature (Superfood & Breakfast), Auravedic (Ayurvedic skincare) and Fragrance and Beyond (Skin-safe Body Fragrances & Deodorants) and five other in-house brands across skincare, haircare, sleep, anxiety and plant protein supplements.
Vishnu Prasath Devrajan, founder of SuperCluster Pi said, “SuperCluster Pi is on a mission to make India healthier by curating all entrepreneurial efforts in the proactive wellness sector together. We are committed to making a healthy lifestyle possible, accessible and sustainable. Our team is thrilled to be backed by investors with capital, support and guidance early on in our journey. SuperCluster Pi will continue to grow and acquire brands in the proactive wellness sector so that our mission of building a Healthier Tomorrow becomes a reality.”
Rathnakar Samavedam, Investment Director at Hyderabad Angels, said, “SuperCluster Pi is unique in its proposition of making the society – people and business – work towards a common goal of a healthier tomorrow. Their team has shown immense potential with the existing portfolio of D2C brands by taking them faster and closer to digital first consumers. We are extremely bullish on the vision and the sustainable business model of SuperCluster Pi.”
Unlike other industry wellness endeavours that require consumers to undertake behavioural change in their lifestyle, SuperCluster Pi wants to enable consumers to lead healthier lives with no extra time commitment, no extra effort and no change in lifestyle. Another differentiation for SuperCluser Pi is that it supports brands that are also socially conscious and linked to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for empowering non-profits to plant trees, donate meals, empower women, fight climate change among other causes, according to the statement.
SuperCluster Pi’s dedicated M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) team interacts with founders to understand their business ethos and vision. The HoB evaluates D2C startups on a variety of factors like operational efficiency, focus markets, brand visibility and reception by consumers, growth and scalability opportunities and possibilities of international expansion.
To fast track growth and scale D2C startups which align with the HoB’s vision, the team prepares a growth plan, evaluates the brand to acquire controlling equity and proceeds for due diligence and deal closure within a time frame of four weeks. The acquisition of brands is completed in under 60 days, the statement said.
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