It’s 2016 and you’re out and about creating a D2C brand when “D2C” as an industry was just taking shape!

Then there’s the unwillingness of the Indian consumer to pay high amounts for a premium product and the biggest challenge on the top of it – to reach the hinterlands of India.

Cut to 2021 –

• You have served over 2 million customers
• Tier 2 and beyond make up 40% of your total sales
• You get acquired in what deems to be India’s Largest D2C Exit

Sounds quite a task?

Well, The Moms Co. did it!

So how did The Moms Co. achieve such an incredible feat in a mere 5 year span?

Spoiler alert: First hand experiences for the win! But first, let’s start from the beginning.

The Birth Of The Moms Co.: Scratching Their Own Itch

World’s most populous democracy and the need for mom & baby care products may seem like they go hand in hand but in reality the objects in the mirror do not appear to be close.

The real challenge for new-age D2C brands is reaching the hinterlands of India — the much-vaunted Bharat or Tier 3 and smaller cities — without compromising on the high quality and premium promise of the products.

The eureka moment for The Moms Co. came when founder Malika Sadani struggled to find safe, natural products for her daughter after moving back to India from London. It turns out, other moms faced the same problem.

“In other words, a market was waiting to be disrupted.” 

As Malika put it in a D2CX session with Inc42, “No one seemed to be listening to moms and trying to solve our needs.”

The breaking point? A Boston snowstorm that prevented a friend from delivering a stash of baby products to the Sadani family. That was the moment Malika and Mohit decided to dig deeper and ask: Why couldn’t these products be made in India?

Launched out of a mother’s need to find the best baby care products, The Moms Co has created a niche around designing and making toxin-free, natural products for pre and postnatal care, and babies.

From its humble beginnings to a major acquisition by The Good Glamm Group, this homegrown brand has proven that when you craft a D2C brand out of First Hand Experiences, you can create something truly special, in this case, an INR 500 Cr company – in just 6 years!

The Growth: Journey To A Million Customers Start With Killer Moves

In 2017, The Moms Co. snagged a $1 Mn in a Series A round of funding by DSG Consumer Partners and Saama Capital.

2 years later, the same investors pumped an additional $5 Mn into the company in a Series B funding round in 2019.

In the midst of this came the physical expansion as part of the brand’s omnichannel strategy that included partnerships with maternity hospitals and retail pharmacies.

And when the world came to a standstill in 2020 – The Moms Co.’s overall business went up 40% as compared to pre-Covid levels led by Tier 2/3/4 markets.

This was fueled by the lockdown experience boosting usage for services and searches for products that were otherwise never sought by the Indian consumer.

And the numbers speak for themselves –

The Acquisition: A Lesson In Rational Vs Emotional Decisions

“A conflict arises between a very strong emotional part of you and a very strong rational part of you”

Founder Mallika Sadani made this statement at The D2C Summit 2024 when asked about what goes inside the head of an entrepreneur when the plans of an exit start to take shape.

In 2021, content commerce mammoth Good Glamm Group acquired The Moms Co. to further strengthen its growth across South Asia for INR 500 Cr.

What are the founders’ side of things when it comes to an acquisition?

Founders Mallika and Mohit started to receive inbound for a potential acquisition from FMCG firms they had never met or spoken to before.

At this point, they started to really sit down and think about the future of the company, its employees, their stakeholders and lastly, themselves – the founders.

And that is where they decided to separate the emotional and rational parts of their heart and soul. Needless to say – the rational part took the cake and ate it too.

“To get the best price out of the acquisition, is that you create competition”

In 2023, Good Glamm acquired 90% of The Moms Co. in what is regarded as one of the largest D2C acquisitions in India.

That’s all for this edition!