Una Brands confronts slowing growth in 2023 as tariff clouds loom

Una Brands, a Singapore-based ecommerce roll-up firm, is making the most of living in a bad neighborhood.

The aggregator industry, which acquires and scales online brands, has been particularly hit hard by the higher interest rate environment of the past few years.

US-based Thrasio, one of the industry’s long-standing names, raised over US$3 billion from marquee investors like Silver Lake and Oaktree before filing for bankruptcy last year. The company’s executives are also being sued for hundreds of millions of dollars.

Against this backdrop, Una Brands might not appear to be doing too badly. It grew revenue in 2023 by 4.8% year on year, although loss before taxes rose by 4.2%. It also claims to have achieved EBITDA profitability in the fourth quarter of 2023.

However, with the new US administration threatening tariffs and disrupting ecommerce, there may be more hurdles on Una Brands’ path.

Slowing growth

Una Brands was established in 2017, and its co-founders include CEO Kiren Tanna, COO Kushal Patel, and senior vice president for growth and operations Tobias Heusch. It buys brands that are already established and generate between US$300,000 and US$20 million in annual revenue.

The firm has raised over US$115 million in funding from investors including Alpha JWC Ventures and Northstar Group. It’s also backed by Maximilian Bittner, founder and former CEO of Lazada.

Una Brands’ portfolio spans multiple categories, including home goods with The Small Merchant, lifestyle with Hendeer, and kitchenware with Bella Forte. The ecommerce roll-up firm says its work chair and desk brand ErgoTune is “the leading wellness ergonomic brand in Singapore and Australia.”

While Una Brands’ revenue increased marginally from 2022 to 2023, this was a marked slowdown from the 9x growth between 2021 and 2022.

Una Brands tells Tech in Asia that this is due to a “clear strategic shift toward profitability and sustainable growth.”

The Una Brands team / Photo credit: Una Brands

However, the company still appears far from profitable. As a percentage of revenue, its loss before tax only improved marginally, from -78.9% in 2022 to -78.5% in 2023.

Yet, Una Brands maintains that the fourth quarter of 2023 was its “historically strongest sales period,” helping it gain a surge in momentum at the end of the year.

It reiterates that it achieved profitability on an adjusted earnings basis over that period, news it had shared with Tech in Asia last year.

A wilder 2025?