Beauty and skincare company VLCC will acquire men’s grooming brand Ustraa in a a secondary buyout and share swap deal, it said on June 9.
Through this, Ustraa’s existing investors — Info Edge, 360 One and Wipro Consumer Care Ventures — will become shareholders of VLCC. The deal size was not immediately disclosed by the company.
VLCC will enter the men’s grooming space, competing with the Marico-backed Beardo, The Man Company and other players, experts said. “This partnership brings together two pioneering home-grown personal care brands — combining Ustraa’s leading position in men’s grooming range with VLCC’s growing skincare products portfolio,” VLCC said in the statement.
Founded in 2015 by Rahul Anand and Rajat Tuli, Ustraa sells fragrances, hair care, face and beard care products and has 2.2 million customers on its app.
VLCC said it would make more investments into Ustraa to grow the brand in the future, and the acquisition would “enhance new age digital commerce and product innovation capabilities for the platform”.
Anand and Tuli, who also founded Happily Unmarried, will continue to work with the company, and will head VLCC’s D2C business.