Beauty and skincare brand VLCC on Friday said it is acquiring Happily Unmarried Marketing Private Ltd (Ustraa) in a mix of cash and share swap.

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The partnership brings together two pioneering home-grown personal care brands, combining Ustraa's leading position in the men's grooming range with VLCC's growing skincare products portfolio.

Post-merger, VLCC will make further investments to accelerate the growth of Ustraa.

Founded in 2015 by Rahul Anand and Rajat Tuli, Ustraa was one of India's first D2C brands focused on men's grooming. Today, 67 percent of Ustraa's sales come from online channels. The brand has 85+ SKUs across fragrances, hair care, face and beard care and had 2.2mn customers on their own app.

Ustraa is backed by marquee investors including InfoEdge, 360 One (formerly IIFL Ventures), and Wipro.

Vikas Gupta, CEO of VLCC said this acquisition marks the company's foray into the men's grooming market and our aim is to accelerate Ustraa's growth journey by leveraging VLCC's pan-India offline distribution.

"VLCC’s strong management, well supported by Carlyle globally, brings the resources and sector expertise which can enable us to significantly grow our brand further and expand the range of products," Rahul Anand and Rajat Tuli, founders of Ustraa.

Trilegal and KPMG advised VLCC on the acquisition. EY acted as the exclusive financial advisor to HUMPL and its investors.

First Published:Jun 9, 2023 9:21 PM IST