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Bengaluru-based G.O.A.T Brand Labs is taking the Indian Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) market by storm after it recently acquired a 90 percent stake in The Label Life — a brand associated with Malaika Arora, Sussanne Khan, and Bipasha Basu. 

Speaking about the acquisition, Rishi Vasudev, Co-founder and Director, G.O.A.T Brand Labs, said the women’s western wear space is growing exponentially, and this is the brand’s first acquisition in this space.

“We were on the lookout for a very strong D2C brand, which we could acquire and scale massively,” he added.

The Label Life is a strong brand that has had strong collaborations with global brands in the past, and thus, fits perfectly, said Rishi. 

The startup began the process of identifying and building a pipeline of brands that could be a part of its acquisition drive last year.

“While we have announced 11 brands, another 10-12 brands are in the pipeline in the last stages of acquisition,” he said.

In 2022, G.O.A.T Brand Labs plans to add more brands into its portfolio. Besides, the existing brands in its portfolio are showcasing good traction, which it aims to grow by 2-3x by the end of this year. 

Soon, the Thrasio-like D2C company will make announcements about its fundraising activities as there has been a lot of investor interest in this business model. 

According to Rishi, presently, the big opportunity is that several people are moving towards online shopping. However, scaling a D2C brand is one of the biggest challenges faced by the sector.

“That’s the kind of brand we identify, who is doing well on one or two channels, and other areas where they are neglected because of money or bandwidth,” said Rishi. It also tracks another important metric — the efficiency of a brand because of the aggregation.

Speaking about key metrics, Rishi said G.O.A.T. Brand Lab aims to hit a turnover of a billion dollars in three years and two billion dollars in five years. “We are aiming to acquire about 150+ brands in the next five years,” he added.

The startup expects to grow its acquired brands by at least 2X.