UNA Brands
Una Brands is an e-commerce company headquartered in Singapore that acquires small, independent e-commerce businesses throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The company aims to optimise the operations, marketing and data analytics of these businesses to help them grow.[1][2][3] As of 2023, Una Brands had secured a total of US$100 million in funding to support its operations.[4][5] Una Brands acquires local brands with sales between $1 million and $20 million USD.[6][2][7][8]
Una Brands was included in the Forbes, Asia 100 to Watch list in the e-commerce and retail category in 2022.[1]
History
Una Brands was co-founded by Kiren Tanna, Adrian Johnston, Kushal Patel, Srinivasan Shridharan and Tobias Heusch at the start of 2021. Kiren was formally the founder and CEO of Food Panda and Zen Rooms.[9]
Fundraising Timeline
- In May 2021, Una Brands announced that it had raised a US$40 million seed round led by Global Founders Capital, Presight Capital, Claret Capital and Kingsway Capital.[9]
- In September 2021, the company announced a US$15 million series A round, led by Whitestar Capital and Alpha JWC.[10][11]
- In September 2022, Una Brands announced a US$30 million series B round.
- In March 2023, Una Brands raised US$30 million in a pre-series C funding round led by Northstar Group, bringing the total funds raised to US$100 million.[12][5]
Una Brands acquires profitable independent brands with revenue ranging between US$1 million and US$20 million, by providing an upfront lump sum and a share of the profits to the acquired firms.[13] [14]
Una Brands has offices in various countries, including Singapore, India, China, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Australia.[13][10]
The company currently employs a team of 200 individuals across six offices in the Asia-Pacific region.[4][15]
Acquisition Strategy
Una Brands acquires companies that sell across several channels in the Asia-Pacific market, including Shopify, Shopee, Lazada, Tokopedia, and Amazon.[4][16] The company acquires brands that sell consumer products in the categories of home and living, beauty and personal care, pets, babies, and sports.[13][17] Una Brands retains the acquired companies as individual brands and aims to add value by expanding the brands into more distribution channels and countries.[10]
Una Brands has acquired over 30 companies, including Bellaforte and JuJu, with the earliest acquisitions seeing sales and profits increase by over 50% since their acquisition.[18][19][14]
The company has adjusted its projection for achieving EBITDA profitability to the end of 2023, which is later than its previous estimate of the fourth quarter of 2022.[7][4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Team, Forbes Asia. "Forbes Asia 100 To Watch 2022" (in en). https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesasiateam/2022/08/29/forbes-asia-100-to-watch-2022/.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "E-commerce aggregator Una Brands lands $30M just five months after its Series B" (in en-AU). https://au.news.yahoo.com/e-commerce-aggregator-una-brands-000036929.html.
- ↑ Dalton, Nick Bonyhady, Emma Koehn, Angus (2022-06-28). "‘I’m heartbroken’: Wave of layoffs begins as start-ups fight for survival" (in en). https://www.smh.com.au/business/entrepreneurship/i-m-heartbroken-wave-of-layoffs-begins-as-start-ups-fight-for-survival-20220628-p5ax6a.html.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem" (in en-US). https://www.techinasia.com/una-brands.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Park, Kate (2023-03-01). "E-commerce aggregator Una Brands lands $30M just five months after its Series B" (in en-US). https://techcrunch.com/2023/02/28/e-commerce-aggregator-una-brands-lands-30m-just-five-months-after-its-series-b/.
- ↑ Powell, Dominic (2021-10-04). "‘Digital Unilever’: Australian startup Una Brands plans to be a unicorn in a year" (in en). https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/digital-unilever-australian-startup-una-brands-plans-to-be-a-unicorn-in-a-year-20211004-p58wy3.html.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Park, Kate (2023-03-01). "E-commerce aggregator Una Brands lands $30M just five months after its Series B". https://techcrunch.com/2023/02/28/e-commerce-aggregator-una-brands-lands-30m-just-five-months-after-its-series-b/.
- ↑ "businesstimes.com.sg/startups-tech/no-signs-slowdown-south-east-asia-e-commerce-demand-yet-say-aggregators". https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/startups-tech/no-signs-slowdown-south-east-asia-e-commerce-demand-yet-say-aggregators.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "businesstimes.com.sg/garage/former-ceo-of-foodpanda-rocket-internet-asia-build-e-commerce-startup-with-us40m-seed-funding". https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/garage/former-ceo-of-foodpanda-rocket-internet-asia-build-e-commerce-startup-with-us40m-seed-funding.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Shu, Catherine (2021-05-05). "Una Brands launches with $40M to roll up brands on multiple Asia-Pacific e-commerce platforms" (in en-US). https://techcrunch.com/2021/05/05/una-brands-launches-with-40m-to-acquire-brands-on-multiple-asia-pacific-e-commerce-platforms/.
- ↑ Khan, Abida (2022-10-18). "Unproven business models dim Una Brands’ ray of hope for D2C firms" (in en-US). https://the-ken.com/sea/story/untested-business-models-dim-una-brands-ray-of-hope-for-d2c-firms/.
- ↑ "businesstimes.com.sg/startups-tech/una-brands-raises-us30-million-funding-led-northstar-group". https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/startups-tech/una-brands-raises-us30-million-funding-led-northstar-group.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem" (in en-US). https://www.techinasia.com/una-brands-commits-23m-buy-malaysian-ecommerce-brands-2022.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Una Brands to splash $100m on Australian e-commerce acquisitions" (in en). https://www.businessnewsaustralia.com/articles/una-brands-to-splash--100m-on-australian-e-commerce-acquisitions.html.
- ↑ "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem" (in en-US). https://www.techinasia.com/sg-ecommerce-roll-una-brands-lays-10-staff.
- ↑ Shu, Catherine (2022-09-29). "E-commerce aggregator Una Brands gets $30M to acquire more APAC brands" (in en-US). https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/28/e-commerce-aggregator-una-brands-gets-30m-to-acquire-more-apac-brands/.
- ↑ "businesstimes.com.sg/startups-tech/garage/una-brands-commits-us100m-south-korea-allies-klickbrands". https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/startups-tech/garage/una-brands-commits-us100m-south-korea-allies-klickbrands.
- ↑ Pickering, Michael (2021-10-11). "How a 15-year-old schoolboy became an millionaire by selling CUPS". https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10078829/How-15-year-old-schoolboy-overnight-millionaire-selling-fancy-plastic-cups.html.
- ↑ "15yo Gold Coast schoolboy sells his cup business for $1 million". https://www.news.com.au/finance/small-business/15yo-gold-coast-schoolboy-sells-his-cup-business-for-1-million/news-story/c32011509f61e0b5bb6063f27b966919.
