Diversified conglomerate ITC on Thursday said it has proposed to acquire up to 10.07% stake in Blupin Technologies, the company behind the brand ‘Mylo’, for up to Rs 39.34 crore.
Significantly, the investment in Mylo is part of a $17 million (nearly Rs 130 crore) raised by Blupin Technologies in a Series B funding round, led by W Health Ventures, a US-based digital health investor and Endiya Partners, besides ITC. Other investors who took part in the round include Riverwalk Holdings, Alteria Capital, and Innoven Capital.
With this investment, ITC will further expand its presence in the D2C (direct-to-consumer) mother and baby care segment. In November 2021, the company had announced its investment in Mother Sparsh Baby Care, an ayurvedic and natural personal care brand in the D2C space with a focus on the mother and baby care segment.
ITC said this investment will provide the company with “an early mover advantage” in the evolving Content-to-Community-to-Commerce space, which is expected to emerge as a platform of the future. Founded in 2017, Mylo addresses the needs of its consumers through a wide and relevant range of content, health tools, conversations and community sharing features. Beyond personalised content and an active community, Mylo also offers its users direct-to-consumer (D2C) personal care brands.
The company informed the stock exchanges that the share acquisition is expected to be completed within 45 days from the date of execution of the agreements. It entered into a share subscription agreement, share purchase agreement, and shareholders’ agreement on April 20.
Commenting on the development, Sameer Satpathy, chief executive, Personal Care Products Business, lTC, said, “Within a short period of time, Mylo has demonstrated great potential in the evolving Content-to-Community-to-Commerce model by nurturing an online platform where people learn, share, trust and belong.”
Satpathy said the investment will provide the company with the opportunity to foray into this emerging space and become an integral part of the evolution of this area. “Our investment in Mylo will also enable us to strengthen focus in the mother and baby community-building platform, besides expanding our presence in the D2C mother and child care segment,” he added.
Speaking on the investment from lTC, Vinit Garg, founder and CEO, Blupin Technologies Private Limited, said lTC has been an exemplar in leveraging the power of innovation and digitalisation to create winning brands. “We are confident that this partnership will further provide unique synergies and competitive strengths to scale our business,” Garg said.
On its investment in Mylo, W Health Ventures executive vice president Pankaj Jethwani said Mylo leverages technology to provide a supportive community-led platform that helps solve critical problems that women face in their pregnancy and motherhood journeys. “We believe the tremendous adoption of internet and e-commerce among Indian women will be a catalyst for Mylo’s growth. W Health Ventures invests in healthcare companies that address critical unmet healthcare needs and simplify the experience for patients and providers,” Jethwani said.
(With PTI inputs)
