Unilazer Ventures Pvt. Ltd, owned by film producer and entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala, has sold its 15% stake in lingerie e-tailer Zivame to Reliance Brands Ltd.
Screwvala confirmed the stake sale in Zivame, operated by Actoserba Active Wholesale Pvt. Ltd, to The Economic Times.
The move comes just two months after VCCircle in May reported that Bengaluru-based Zivame had pushed back fundraising and business expansion plans owing to coronavirus.
Reliance Brands – an arm of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd – markets and sells luxury brands in India including Jimmy Choo, Diesel, Bottega Veneta, and Giorgio Armani.
Unilazer’s stake sale is part of Reliance Brands’ possible move to acquire Zivame, The Economic Times reported, citing people aware of the developments.
As per the report, the acquisition could see Reliance Brands paying up to $160 million (nearly Rs 1,200 crore) for buying 100% of Zivame, which was founded in 2011 by Richa Kar.
VCCircle has reached out to Screwvala and Unilazer on the transaction and will update this report accordingly.
Zivame, which initially began operations as an aggregator, pivoted to a private-label business in the middle of 2016.
The company has many private labels including Penny and Coucou, and more than 60% of its revenue comes from in-house products.
It has also adopted an omnichannel approach and has a presence in more than 100 physical stores across India.
According to VCCEdge, the data research arm of Mosaic Digital, Zivame reported net sales of Rs 138 crore for the 2019 financial year, with losses of Rs 19.56 crore for the same period.
In May 2018, the firm underwent a management change and brought on board Amisha Jain as CEO in place of Shaleen Sinha.
In April 2019, Zivame raised Rs 60 crore in a bridge round of funding led by existing investor Zodius Capital.
Khazanah and Zodius Technology Fund had invested in Zivame in 2015. At the time, Zivame had raised Rs 250 crore in its Series C funding round.
Zodius bought out Kalaari Capital and Chiratae Ventures in 2018. The Zodius fund is managed by Avendus, which had acquired the early-stage investor in 2017.