- Firstcry – A Pune based start-up that deals in baby care and mother care is now a unicorn in 2020.
- The Masayoshi Son led SoftBank Vision Fund to accept FirstCry’s invitation for $400 million investment.
India now has its 2nd unicorn FirsCry (after PineLabs) with a valuation of not less than $1.2 billion. SoftBank Vision Fund after receiving FirstCry’s private placement letter immediately invested $300 million and the remaining amount ($100 million) is said to be released on the 2nd anniversary of the deal in January 2021.
According to regulatory filings by our unicorn FirstCry’s entity BrainBees Solutions, it has approved allotment of ₹ 73.1 million Series E equity shares priced at ₹386 (with a premium of ₹ 381 included in the amount) per share to SVF Frogn, A Cayman Islands-registered entity of Softbank.
The startup turned unicorn FirstCry received $300 million (₹ 703.71 crores) would be released in the first half of the investment.
What Makes FirstCry a Unicorn?
A typical Indian family goes mad on 2 major occasions, marriage and birth of a child. Even if the family falls in the middle-class, they go a step ahead and treat the child just like a prince or princess.
Now, just imagine the scope and potential of FirstCry! Not only this, a pregnant mother gets all the love, attention, care and respect that she never gets usually. And FristCry is guarding both of them in India.
Another reason for toddler turning unicorn is its advertising campaigns and brand endorsements. Bollywood’s unicorn Amitabh Bacchan has been endorsing another unicorn FirstCry for a long time.
With sir Amitabh backing up FirstCry, it becomes difficult for the Indian families to ignore the brand. They have no reason for not trying FirstCry. Celebrity endorsements add various adjectives to the brand.
Can you guess what adjectives sir Amitabh gave to FirstCry? It’s trust, faith, and generosity. How can people ignore a brand that’s trustworthy and generous?
What Are Future Plans Of Our Unicorn?
A decade olf venture FirstCry is unbeatable in its niche and it’s leading in the omnichannel baby and mother care product segment. It consolidated the segment after acquiring Mahindra Retail which ran BabyOye brand in an all-stock deal worth INR 362 crore.
Proceeds from SoftBank’s backup will be used to scape FirstCry’s offline network and take on horizontal majors – Amazon & Flipkart.
Our unicorn FirstCry used to own eCommerce logistics company XpressBees but it spun off its division as a separate entity and later raised funds from Alibaba.
With a $300 million fund, FirstCry has raised around $425 million in total risk capital. Its previous investors include Chiratae, SAIF Partners, Adveq & Vertex Ventures.
Ending Note:
It’s just 2nd month of 2020 and we have 2nd unicorn around us. Isn’t is amazingly commendable? With this speed, it’s not wrong to say that we might have 12 unicorns by the end of this year.
We wish all the love and success to our unicorn FirstCry and hope to see it growing and getting big only.
