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In 2022, Delhi-based Honasa Consumer — the parent company of Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) brand Mamaearth and The Derma Co. — became the first company to enter the unicorn club after closing a $52 million funding round led by Sequoia Global.

Varun Alagh, Co-founder and CEO, Honasa Consumer, says it is a milestone worth celebrating.

The company will invest the funds broadly in three areas — to continue with the disruptive growth, increase offline distribution, and build new brands in the beauty and personal care space.

Moreover, Honasa is exploring new routes of growth — inorganic acquisitions and new markets.

According to Varun, in 2022, Honasa will focus on its North Star metrics, comprising overall top-line growth, profitability, and working capital.

In fact, it will also target more consumer-oriented metrics such as brand metrics, customer recommendations, and new engine contributions.

“Team engagement and employee engagement is very critical for us. We’ve been a great place to work for the last two years, and we would like to continue to be on that path,” said Varun.

In terms of Mamearth’s product pipeline, Varun mentioned the company is getting into two strategic categories in 2022 — colour care and fragrances. It is also going to continue to double down on its existing categories such as skin, hair, etc. “In the case of Mamaearth, innovation is at the heart of our business,” he added.

Commenting on the acquisition picture, Varun explained that buying a company is far easier than building, but Honasa Consumer’s priority has always been to build brands.

“The Derma Co. hitting a Rs 100 crore run-rate mark in just two years — which is almost ten months earlier than when Mamaearth hit it — is a clear testimony that the company can build brands,” Varun said. However, Honasa is open to acquiring brands in spaces where it does not have natural strengths.

In terms of expansion, Honasa has a few core markets of interest — GCC and Southeast Asia.

Varun said, “From a three-year horizon, we would be looking at anywhere between a 40-50 percent CAGR growth from where we are.”