Varun Alagh is the Founder and Chief Dad of Honasa Consumer Private Limited, which established its first-ever baby nourishing brand, Mamaearth, in November 2016. The company is based in Gurugram, India. Mamaearth is declared as Asia's first MadeSafe certified brand. Varun founded the toxin-free baby, beauty, hair, face, body care brand, Mamaearth with his wife, Ghazal Alagh, who plays the major role of Chief Mama at the company. The valuation of the company is currently estimated to be more than $1.2 Billion as of January 3, 2022.
Varun Alagh- Biography
| Name | Varun Alagh |
|---|---|
| Born | 1984 |
| Age | 38 (2022) |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Education | Delhi College of Engineering; XLRI Jamshedpur |
| Profession | Entrepreneur |
| Position | Founder & Chief Dad, Mamaearth |
| Spouse | Ghazal Alagh |
| Son | Agastya Alagh |
| Net worth | $10-20 mn (2022) |
Varun Alagh- Early Life
Varun Alagh- Career
Varun Alagh- Personal Life
Varun Alagh- Professional Life and Journey So Far!
Varun Alagh- Investments
Varun Alagh- Awards and Recognition
Varun Alagh- Early Life
After completing his studies, Varun joined Hindustan Unilever Limited in 2007. During the first year, he worked as a Business Leadership Trainee. He was a part of this one-year training program. Varun then spent 6 months in Marketing with Lakme and Lifebuoy. He spent another 6 months in Customer Marketing and Sales in North India.
After completing his training for one whole year, he was employed as the Area Sales Manager of Hindustan Unilever Ltd., Delhi NCR in May 2008. He was responsible for a 600 crore business through 29 people, spread across 22 categories under Home care, personal care, foods, and beverages.
After 2 years, he was promoted as the Area Sales and Customer Manager, Delhi NCR, and Rajasthan in 2010. He managed a team of 37 people with 67 customers, delivering a direct distribution of 55,000 retail outlets across Delhi and Rajasthan.
After 9 months, he was again promoted as the Regional Brand Manager Innovations South Asia- Deodorants. As a part of this role, he managed Innovations and communications for Sure/Rexona Deodrants in South Asia as well as Market development and digital strategy for Asia.
He left Hindustan Unilever in March 2012 and joined Diageo PLC as the Senior Brand Manager- Smirnoff. This role assigned him the job of managing one of the world's largest premium spirits brands, Smirnoff, which is India's largest Vodka brand too. Moreover, he looked over the above and below the line (ATL & BTL). This also included the Digital and On-trade activation for Smirnoff across India.
He joined The Coca-Cola Company in May 2013 and worked as the Brand Manager for two years. Varun managed to deliver the brand business, market share, and equity targets through a collation of various marketing acts. Alagh was then promoted as the Senior Brand Manager, where his role was to manage Customer Marketing for Coca Cola trademark across India and South-West Asian countries. He eventually left the company in November 2016 and it was in the same month that he started Honasa Consumer Pvt. Ltd., the parent of Mamaearth.
Varun Alagh- Career
Varun pursued a Bachelor of Engineering specializing in Electrical Engineering from the Delhi College of Engineering (2001-2005). He later did a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management (PGDBM) in Finance and Marketing from XLRI Jamshedpur (2005-2007).
While Varun was completing his post-graduation degree course, he had a chance to work with companies like Colgate Palmolive, Havells Electric, Madura Garments, Maruti, and Nokia in the form of internships and LIVE projects.
Varun Alagh- Personal Life
He is married to Ghazal Alagh, who is the Co-founder and Chief Mama of Mamaearth. She looks after the product development, content,, and community management of the company. Before that, she had worked in the IT corporate world. The couple has a son named Agastya, who had been diagnosed with a skin-borne disease called eczema since birth.
Jeenal Jain
Varun Alagh- Professional Life and Journey So Far!
Varun worked with Unilever for 4 years and 11 months i.e., from May 2007 to March 2012. Here he got to learn how to add value to a brand. Varun also worked for another brand, Smirnoff at Diageo PLC for 1 year 3 months i.e., from March 2012 to May 2013.
He worked with the Coca-Cola company for 3 years and 7 months i.e., from May 2013 to November 2016. He excelled in building brand value for 9 long years by working with several renowned companies.
He founded Mamaearth in November 2016, providing a range of toxin-free baby skincare products. Both Varun Alagh and Ghazal Alagh had the suitable background of handling such a brand professionally, which was eventually developed due to personal reasons.
When Varun and Ghazal realized that their newborn son, Agastya had a skin-borne disease called eczema. His skin was allergic to a lot of substances and turned red and itchy when exposed to such chemicals. The couple had to look for toxin-free baby care products in the market.
Business Idea
The doctor advised using only natural products to avoid the worsening of his condition, but, Mr. and Mrs. Alagh found that most of the baby care products in India contained toxins in one form or the other. Besides, they did not think it fit to compromise with the quality. Therefore, they had to request their relatives and friends travelling abroad to bring back toxin-free skincare brands for their child. According to Varun Alagh, Mamaearth was founded after they found no alternative for proper toxin-free brands for babies in India and the US products were becoming an added financial burden.
Founder of Honasa Consumer Private Limited
Honasa Consumer Private Limited is classified as a non-government company, registered at Registrar of Companies, New Delhi. The authorized share capital of the company is INR 625,300 and its paid-up capital is INR 245,790.
Varun is the Founder, Chief Dad, and Get Stuff Done Officer at Honasa Consumer Private Limited. The company exists to provide honest, natural, and safe products. Mamaearth is the first brand of the company that focuses on reducing parenting stress by providing solutions to parent and baby problems in the form of safe, international standard products.
The Directors of the company include Varun Alagh, Ghazal Alagh, Vettakkorumakankav Siva, Subramaniam Sita, Rahul Chowdhri, Ishan Mittal. The company started with a combined investment of Rs 90 lakh by Varun, Ghazal, and a few of the angel investors.
Rishabh Rathi
Founder of Mamaearth
Varun serves as the Founder and Chief Dad of the Mamaearth, headquartered in Gurugram, India. He founded the company in November 2016, primarily as a babycare products brand, which saw good growth and thereby expanded to several other categories including - Beauty, Hair, Face, and Body care, and currently targets a range of audiences including babies, moms to be, and men above the age of 15 years too.
Within two years of the startup, the company got a retail turnover of Rs 20 crore. By 2020, Mamaearth's net worth was over Rs 100 Crore. The company eventually turned out to be the first unicorn of India in 2022 by raising $52 mn on January 1, 2022.
Mamaearth has its own website, where one can shop from a diverse range of body care, hair care, beauty and baby care products. The baby care range of Mamaearth can also be accessed through various e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Firstcry, Nykaa. It also has its presence across 120+ major cities of India.
Famous Bollywood celebrity, Shilpa Shetty, who herself is a mother of two babies, became the brand ambassador of Mamaearth in 2017. She believed that toxin-free products are the best. Thus, she invested around $250K in the company. Moreover, Mamaearth also raised other funding led by Fireside Ventures and Stellaris Ventures Partners.
Avantika Bhardwaj
Varun Alagh- Investments
Varun Alagh invested on numerous startups till date. The Co-founder has been noted for 16+ investments, the last of which came in on March 14, 2022 when he $1.6 million in Xeno.
| Name of the company | Funding round | Investment date |
|---|---|---|
| Xeno | Seed Round | March 14, 2022 |
| One Impression | Seed Round | January 6, 2022 |
| Nestasia | Series A | December 15, 2021 |
| Shiprocket | Series E | December 10, 2021 |
| Pristyn Care | Series E | December 8, 2021 |
| Doss Games | Pre-Seed Round | December 6, 2021 |
| Early Steps Acacdemy | Seed Round | November 24, 2021 |
| Wiggles India | Seed Round | October 28, 2021 |
| BeepKart | Seed Round | September 22, 2021 |
| Ayu Health | Series A | September 15, 2021 |
Varun Alagh- Awards and Recognition
- He received Business Unit President Award (December 2015) for being a lead member in the MIT ICE project for turning around FBO business in 2015 from the President of Coca-Cola India and southwest Asia.
- He was conferred with the Above & Beyond Award (September 2015) for going beyond the call of duty on an organization-wide project from the Leadership team of Coca-Cola India and southwest Asia.
- He received Business Unit President Award (December 2014) for leading excellent ideation and execution in the Coca-Cola Zero launch in India from the President of Coca-Cola India South West Asia.
- He got conferred with the I am a Diageo Award (March 2013) for excellent execution of the Smirnoff Nightlife Activation Nationally from the President of Diageo India.
- He has been listed among the top managers in HUL for two years consistently.
FAQs
Is Mamaearth an Indian brand?
Yes, Mamaearth is an Indian company and is based out of Gurugram, Haryana.
Who founded Mamaearth?
Mamaearth was founded in 2016 by husband-wife duo, Varun and Ghazal Alagh.
Is Mamaearth chemical free?
All of Mamaearth's products are 100% chemical-free. Mamaearth is the only “Made Safe” certified toxin-free brand in India, which is free of all known toxins which are banned in most countries.
Who is the brand ambassador of Mamaearth?
Shilpa Shetty Kundra is the brand ambassador of Mamaearth.
Who owns the maximum shares of the company in Mamaearth shareholding?
In Mamaearth shareholding, Varun Alagh holds the majority of Mamaearth shares. The co-founder of the company holds 38.72% of the stakes of the company.
Source :- https://startuptalky.com/ Author :- Megha Rani Date :-March 21, 2022 at 11:01AM