When Honasa Consumer, parent company of Mamaearth, announced its acquisition of the three-year-old Reginald Men in a `195-crore deal, it didn’t come as much of a surprise. The move not only marks Honasa’s entry into the men’s personal care space but also leverages Reginald Men’s expertise in specific segments like sunscreens and serums, Ghazal Alagh, Mamaearth co-founder, explained on LinkedIn.
Earlier this year, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) completed its acquisition of men’s grooming brand Muuchstac in a `450-crore deal. The company, which previously acquired Raymond’s Park Avenue that offers deodorants for men, is betting big on Muuchstac’s bestselling face wash.
Tapping growth opportunities
To be sure, FMCG players have been tapping growth opportunities in men’s beauty for a while now. In 2017, Marico and Emami acquired stake in Beardo and The Man Company, respectively. These recent acquisitions indicate that companies are taking a more strategic view of the category and tapping specific, high-growth segments.
Says Sudhir Sitapati, MD & CEO, GCPL, “The acquisition of Muuchstac was strategically about facial cleansing for men, rather than male grooming per se. It represents an upgrade from soap to face wash, has a strong P&L, and added capabilities. Those were the factors that drove the acquisition, and these parameters will guide our future M&A decisions too.”
India’s face wash market is an estimated 7,000-crore category. Within that, the men’s face wash segment is around1,000 crore, but growing at a faster 25% annually compared with the overall category growth rate of 15-20%.
Muuchstac’s face wash is its hero offering, accounting for 90% of its `80-crore revenue as of September 2025. Sitapati points out that on the online sales channel it is the number two face wash brand for men, with a big volume of the sales coming from tier-II and III markets. The business will continue to be run by the founders, Vishal Lohia and Ronak Bagadia, with GCPL supporting them.
In the case of Trisha Reddy Talasani’s Reginald Men, the hero product is its Helios moisturising sunscreen. “Reginald Men’s edge is that it has been built on simplification of personal care for men. Helios becoming the most-searched men’s sunscreen in India (on Google) was driven by fast consumer adoption and recommendation. Our focus will be on product education, clear communication of benefits, and credible voices. Men tend to respond better to performance and proof than to aspirational messaging,” says a Honasa Consumer spokesperson.
Reginald Men’s early traction came from south India, where over 80% of its sales were driven by repeat consumers and word-of-mouth. In under three years, the brand scaled to over `70 crore in revenue. Honasa plans to put depth before width, strengthening hero products and entering adjacencies only when data and consumer insights support it.
The D2C edge
The men’s grooming market in India is estimated at `16,800-18,000 crore in 2025, growing at a CAGR of 10-12%, outpacing the broader personal care segment. D2C-led men’s grooming brands are winning investor attention because they combine agility, digital-first strategies, and deep consumer engagement, points out Anand Ramanathan, partner & consumer industry leader, Deloitte India.
“Digital penetration and e-commerce growth have made niche grooming products more accessible, while quick commerce platforms have accelerated trial and repeat purchases. D2C brands leverage data-driven personalisation, offering curated product bundles tailored to individual needs. Large FMCG players see this as a high-margin category aligned with premium lifestyle trends, making it a strategic growth lever in an otherwise competitive personal care market,” observes Ramanathan.
Shekhar Suman, co-founder of Brandshark, observes that both brands (Muuchstac and Reginald Men), though small, have been built on the back of single hero products. This offers two major advantages for the acquiring firms. “First, these brands have already figured out what today’s male consumer wants by using real-time digital feedback. Second, they come with built-in credibility at higher price points. Instead of trying to reposition a legacy brand or educate consumers from scratch, acquirers get a ready-made relationship with young men who are willing to pay more for products they trust,” he remarks.
Acquisitions like these are less about consolidation and more about engaging with the target audience. Suman notes that the brands that feel digitally native but are available everywhere, online and offline, will eventually win in this category.