Tiger Global leads $36m round of former Flipkart exec’s ecommerce roll-up firm

GOAT Brand Labs, an Indian tech platform for direct-to-consumer lifestyle brands, has raked in US$36 million series A funding round led by Tiger Global. The round also saw participation from Mayfield, Nordstar, Better Capital, and Flipkart Ventures, the early-stage fund of the Indian ecommerce giant.

Angel investors such as Manipal Education and Medical Group chairman Ranjan Pai, Udaan co-founder Sujit Kumar, and BharatPe Group president Suhail Sameer also joined the round.

GOAT co-founders Rishi Vasudev (left) and Rameswar Misra / Photo credit: GOAT Brand Labs

GOAT, which stands for “greatest of all time,” is an ecommerce roll-up company, which acquires and merges multiple small companies in the same market. Similar to US-based Thrasio, GOAT targets lifestyle businesses and helps them grow online. The newly funded startup says it’s already in talks to acquire at least 10 brands.

GOAT offers end-to-end integration for brands on its tech-enabled platform as well as digital marketing expertise.

“Through this venture, we want direct-to-consumer brands to have access to the best resources so that they scale rapidly to become GOATs,” said co-founder Rishi Vasudev, who headed Flipkart’s fashion vertical for over five years.

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Ecommerce roll-up ventures are a new phenomenon in India. Mensa Brands, GlobalBees, and 10Club are some of the other companies that share a similar business model in the country. Mensa bagged US$50 million last month, while 10Club banked US$40 million.