D2C biz investor G.O.A.T Brand Labs eyes $1 billion revenues in 3-4 years

Started about six months back, it has signed 11 brands in lifestyle space; The plan is to take the total number of brands to 100

G.O.A.T Brand Labs, which invests in and scales D2C brands, is eyeing revenues of $1 billion in the next 3-4 years.

Started about six months back, G.O.A.T has signed 11 brands. “Till now, we have revealed six,” Rishi Vasudev, founder of G.O.A.T Brand Labs, said.

G.O.A.T had raised about $36 million in the first round backed by investors like Tiger Global, Flipkart Ventures, Mayfield, Better Capital and Nordstar.

“Out of that kitty, we have spent 30-35 per cent in the 11 brands that we have acquired,” said Vasudev. The brands are in the lifestyle space (fashion, home & kitchen, nutrition, beauty and personal care).

The plan is to take the total number of brands to 100 in the next 3-4 years that will bring it close to achieving revenues of $1 billion.

In each of the brands that G.O.A.T has entered into partnership with, it has a minimum of 50 per cent stake. “We acquire brands typically in the Rs 10-30 crore range and then see how we can grow them into 100 crore brands,” explained Vasudev.

On Tuesday, it announced its sixth brand partnership – a 50:50 joint venture partnership with Dollar Industries for Pepe Jeans Innerfashion.

Dollar had a 50:50 joint venture with Pepe Jeans Europe B.V. for Pepe Jeans Innerfashion that went back to August, 2017.

Pepe wanted to exit from Pepe Innerfashion and offered Dollar to buy out Pepe’s entire stake as it had the Right of First Offer (ROFO). However, Dollar renounced its rights and agreed to transfer shares held by Pepe in favour of G.O.A.T Brand Labs Pte Limited. Subsequently, G.O.A.T purchased the entire stake of Pepe.

Vasudev explained that the idea of G.O.A.T (which stands for Greatest of All Time) is to create many new brands and create scalable brands in the D2C space.

On the joint venture with Dollar, Vasudev said, this is a very big milestone in G.O.A.T’s young life to be associated with two very big names.

“The first is, Pepe, which is globally a strong brand and is now licensed to this company with which we are associated. And the second is to partner with Dollar Industries,” said Vasudev.

“Dollar brings with it a huge experience in sourcing, product development, offline distribution and business management. And in G.O.A.T, we have built-in capabilities around D2C partnership with all big marketplaces, digital marketing and brand building, apart from other areas,” he said.

“So, we would have a huge opportunity to not only take Pepe to new heights but also add new brands to this portfolio and mostly we will focus on D2C brands which have built well and can be scaled very quickly,” Vasudev added.

The existing License Agreement of Pepe Innerfashion with PJ Hungary KFT, Hungary for use of their brand name ‘Pepe Jeans / Pepe Jeans London’ would continue to be used by Pepe Innerfashion for innerwear.

However, as Pepe Innerfashion adds other brands, the name of the company would be changed. “We will change the name in due course,” said Vinod Kumar Gupta, managing director, Dollar Industries.