Skip to main content
The Entrepreneur Story
WIKI·2 min read·May 14, 2026

Ananth Narayanan’s Mensa Brands bags for $50 Mn in Series A spherical

Mensa Brands has raised $50 million in its Series A spherical led with the aid of using Accel Partners, Falcon Edge Capital and Norwest Venture Partners. Prominent angel buyers along with Kunal Shah, Mukesh Bansal, Rahul Mehta of DST Global and Scott Shleifer of Tiger Global have additionally partic

A young man in a suit poses outdoors amidst lush greenery in Kasaragod, India.
A young man in a suit poses outdoors amidst lush greenery in Kasaragod, India. · Plate 01 · Photographed for The Entrepreneur Story

Mensa Brands has raised $50 million in its Series A spherical led with the aid of using Accel Partners, Falcon Edge Capital and Norwest Venture Partners. Prominent angel buyers along with Kunal Shah, Mukesh Bansal, Rahul Mehta of DST Global and Scott Shleifer of Tiger Global have additionally participated withinside the spherical.

The investment spherical withinside the Ananth Narayanan-led startup additionally has a few debt additives from Alteria Capital and InnoVen Capital. Narayanan has formerly served because the CEO of Myntra-Jabong from 2015 to 2019 after which joined Medlife as its CEO. He left Medlife in March 2021 after its merger with PharmEasy.

Based at the version of US-primarily based Thrasio, Perch and Branded, Mensa acquires manufacturers which are in general bought thru e-trade marketplaces along with Amazon and Flipkart. It companions and invests in online-first manufacturers and scales them exponentially.

According to Mensa, it’ll collect extra than 50 manufacturers throughout classes which include home, garden, apparel, private care and beauty. The business enterprise could be searching at manufacturers which have annual sales of among Rs 10 crore to Rs 70 crore.

Accelerating the dimensions of mid-length manufacturers on Amazon has been attracting great hobby from buyers withinside the US.

Thrasio has raised over $1 billion withinside the final 3 years and purchased extra than one hundred manufacturers while Target Global, Tiger Global and others have led a $one hundred fifty million spherical in Branded and taken it out of its stealth mode.

On comparable lines, the version is likewise warm in India and except Mensa, FirstCry is likewise eyeing to elevate $seventy five million from SoftBank, TPG Capital, ChrysCapital and Premji Invest to reflect Thrasio.

Goat Brands Labs, a comparable startup released with the aid of using former Flipkart’s govt Rishi Vasudev’, changed into reportedly in talks to elevate about $20 million in its first spherical of investment led with the aid of using Tiger Global.

Going forward, extra agencies on this area are anticipated to elevate funds. In February, Powerhouse, a brand new project released with the aid of using co-founders of girls hygiene emblem Azah, had raised an undisclosed spherical from Titan Capital.

Entrackr had solely said Titan Capital’s funding in Powerhouse.

It’s really well worth noting that Mensa could be the 0.33 funding in India for Shleifer in his private capacity. Previously, Shleifer had sponsored social trade platform DealShare. According to Entrackr’s sources, he has additionally invested in DealShare’s competitor CityMall thru a secondary deal.

operatorsfounders2026
No. The desk answers

Reader questions.

About Ananth Narayanan’s Mensa Brands bags for $50 Mn in Series A spherical — five of the most-asked, in the desk's own words.

  1. 01What is this story about?
    Mensa Brands has raised $50 million in its Series A spherical led with the aid of using Accel Partners, Falcon Edge Capital and Norwest Venture Partners. Prominent angel buyers along with Kunal Shah, Mukesh Bansal, Rahul Mehta of DST Global and Scott Shleifer of Tiger Global have additionally partic
  2. 02Who wrote it?
    Sheena · Staff. 2 min read · May 14, 2026.
  3. 03Is this sponsored?
    If a piece is, the disclosure sits above the cover image and again in our public transparency report. This one carries no commercial disclosure.
  4. 04How do I get the rest?
    Subscribe to The Briefing for a Wednesday letter from the desk, or browse by category from the top navigation.

Continue reading

Legend of Toys co-founders Afshaan Siddiqui (left) and Vinay Jaisingh holding RC drift cars, in front of a comic-book mural of cars.
Startup News

Legend of Toys raises ₹21 Cr to play for keeps.

Kovon co-founders Bibartan Roy (left) and Swayamjeet Das, head-and-shoulders portrait.
Startup News

Kovon raises $250K to fix a broken pipeline.

BabyBillion brand illustration — the BabyBillion logo on a cloud with a rainbow, against a blue sky
Startup News

BabyBillion tops global YouTube charts for seven straight weeks.