Amazon aggregator Thrasio to infuse Rs 3,750 cr in buying Indian brands

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SME Times News Bureau | 14 Jan, 2022
Thrasio Holdings Inc, an aggregator of private brands on Amazon, on Friday said it will invest Rs 3,750 crore (nearly $500 million) to acquire leading digital-first brands in India.

Thrasio started its Indian innings with acquiring Lifelong Online, a leading domestic online consumer brand, for an undisclosed sum.

India is one of the fastest-growing regions for Amazon's third-party marketplace, making it enticing for aggregators.

"We couldn't be more excited to work with Lifelong Online and, together, take our proven model to India," said Carlos Cashman, CEO of Thrasio.

"In addition to acquiring and growing digital-first businesses, we plan to participate in the 'make in India' movement by transitioning the manufacturing for some of our products to the country," Cashman said.

Thrasio has acquired more than 200 brands and raised more than $3.4 billion in funding.

Lifelong will now be known as "Lifelong, a Thrasio company" and will be well-positioned to engage with India's more than 750,000 sellers.

"We are building a technology-first, next-generation consumer goods company," explained Bharat Kalia, CEO of Lifelong Online.

Lifelong Online was founded by Atul Raheja, Varun Grover, and Kalia in 2015.

"With lucrative exit options for founders, we hope to encourage even more brands and sellers to join the D2C ecosystem in India," he added.

According to the most-recent list from Marketplace Pulse, adding all of the Thrasio brands together, Thrasio would be a top-5 seller on Amazon's marketplace.

In fact, Thrasio estimates that 1 in 6 US households has already purchased a Thrasio product via Amazon alone.

"India is a unique market with hundreds of thousands of motivated entrepreneurs," said Cashman.

Founded in 2018 by Joshua Silberstein and Cashman, Thrasio has a portfolio of tens of thousands of products.

"We are thrilled to provide brand owners with the opportunity to successfully sell their businesses as well as to give consumers greater access to quality products. This is a major step in our evolution and a huge opportunity for India's sellers," said Cashman.