Omnichannel kidswear brand FirstCry has completed its INR 146 Cr ($17 Mn) investment in its rollup brand subsidiary, GlobalBees, over five months after announcing its plans.
In a disclosure with the bourses today (September 11), the company revealed it had invested INR 73 Cr as the second tranche of its investment in GlobalBees, acquiring 2,220 Series C2 CCPS with a face value of INR 5 each, at a premium of INR 3.29 Lakh per share.
With the investment, FirstCry increased its stake in GlobalBees to 51.51% from 51.12%. Important to note that the subsidiary raised slightly over INR 100 Cr as part of the round, allotting 3,041 Series C2 CCPS to its existing shareholders.
In March, FirstCry had said that it plans to invest INR 146 Cr in its ecommerce roll up business and completed the first tranche of the transaction on INR 73 Cr in March.
GlobaBees, which is the rollup subsidiary of FirstCry, counts home care brand The Better Home, jewellery brand Yellow Chimes, hair care brand Rey Naturals, healthy snack brand The Butternut Company, among others, in its portfolio. About a month ago, GlobalBees acquired 10% stake in BPC startup Cloud Lifestyle Pvt Ltd for INR 60.3 Lakh.
GlobalBees Financial Performance
On the financial front, GlobalBees reported a 6% YoY jump in loss to INR 20.8 Cr in the June quarter. However, its top line zoomed 31% YoY to INR 426.5 Cr. In its Q1 disclosures, FirstCry said that the margins for GlobalBees were weighed down by the impact of rationalisation of some unnamed brands during the quarter.
Meanwhile, FirstCry posted a 12% decline in its consolidated net loss to INR 66.5 Cr in Q1 FY26 from INR 75.6 Cr in the year-ago quarter. The operating revenue rose 13% to INR 1,862.6 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 1,652.1 Cr in Q1 FY25.
Along with the financial disclosure in August, the company said it will invest an additional INR 20 Cr in GlobalBees out of proceeds of its IPO within two months. From the 1,601.7 Cr raised via its IPO, the company had proposed an investment of INR 169 Cr in GlobalBees. The company had invested about INR 84 Cr in the subsidiary back then.
Operational Challenges
Meanwhile, GlobalBees has also seen a fair share of troubles in the ongoing calendar year. Notably, the company is currently dealing with an insolvency plea for INR 65 Cr, filed by three individuals in June with the Delhi bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
The company has also experienced a significant leadership exodus. Earlier in April, CEO Nitin Aggarwal, left the company due to "personal reasons". Meanwhile, three directors namely-Harsha Deepak Kumar (board representative of Lightspeed India Partners), Sudhir Kumar Sethi (board representative of Chiratae Ventures) and Kaveesh Chawla (board representative of Premji Invest) have also resigned in the last six-seven months.
Other top leaders who have left GlobalBees this year include, CBO Damandeep Soni, senior VP Mohit Saxena, and category head Abhishek Biswas.
Shares of FirstCry ended today's trading session down 0.23% at INR 390.