VLCC to acquire men’s grooming brand Ustraa

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Jun 9, 2023

Beauty and skincare brand VLCC has entered the men’s grooming segment with the acquisition of Ustraa in a secondary buyout and a share swap deal.

As part of the deal, Ustraa’s existing investors — Info Edge, 360 One and Wipro Consumer Care Ventures will become shareholders of VLCC.

VLCC plans to make heavy investments into Ustraa going forward to grow the brand and gain a larger market share of the men's grooming market in India.

The deal will see Ustraa’s founders Rahul Anand and Rajat Tuli head VLCC's D2C (direct to consumer) vertical.

Commenting on the deal, Vikas Gupta, CEO of VLCC in a statement said, “We are impressed with Ustraa's leading position in the fast-growing men’s grooming market, especially the D2C channel. Both founders have a deep understanding of the online D2C ecosystem including digital marketing, e-commerce and fast product innovation cycle which has enabled them to scale Ustraa in a short period of time.”

Ustraa which offers products across categories that include fragrances, hair care, face, and beard care is embracing an omni-channel strategy for its next phase of expansion.

Currently present in over 10,000 stores across India and leading e-commerce platforms, the brand aims to take this offline total to 50,000 stores.