MAM
Honasa Consumer acquires Bblunt to enter into hair color & hairstyling category
Mumbai: In a strategic move, Honasa Consumer (HCPL) – the parent company of Mamaearth, The Derma Co and Aqualogica has acquired Bblunt, a premium hair care, hair color and styling products brand from the house of Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL). In an acquisition aimed at further strengthening the company’s presence in the millennial personal care segment, the digital-first consumer brands company also acquired Bblunt salons operated by Bhabani Blunt Hair Dressing.
As part of the acquisition, BBlunt hair care and styling products business will be completely owned and managed by Honasa Consumer, announced the company in a statement on Monday. However, BBlunt salon business will continue to operate as an independent entity, with the founding team Adhuna Bhabani, Osh Bhabani and Avan Contractor as creative directors and Spoorthy Shetty as CEO, it further said.
“BBlunt as a brand, has been ahead of its time with its innovative product portfolio and its digital presence. The brand has carved a niche for itself and considering the market size of Rs 6000 crore in hair color and hairstyling, the brand has potential to grow exponentially,” stated Honasa Consumer co-founder and CEO Varun Alagh. “Being a house of brands, Honasa Consumer has attained expertise in building millennial brands with a digital-first approach. We will utilise our expertise and proficiency in digital marketing to accelerate the growth and scale of BBlunt. Since the brands synergise on fundamental principles and strong millennial connect, we are confident that BBlunt will be a great addition to the Honasa Consumer portfolio.”
HPCL hopes to help strengthen BBlunt’s and use its D2C and e-commerce strength to scale up the business, said the statement. Through the acquisition, JM Financial acted as an exclusive financial advisor to the company.
Estimated at Rs 6,000 crore, the hair color and hairstyling category are expected to continue fast-paced growth in India. With increasing millennial demands for innovative and trendy products, BBlunt has an edge over other brands in the market, according to the company, as the brand has built strong millennial equity over the years.
Founded by Adhuna and Ashoke Bhabani over the last two decades, BBlunt’s has built extensive experience of styling Bollywood celebrities and transferring the salon experience and expertise into quality products. Over the last decade the brand has built a diverse product portfolio, currently consisting of hair colors, shampoos, dry shampoos, conditioners, styling products, serums and temporary hair colors. The product insights have come from stylist and consumer interaction and tested in the salon on real consumers – to build a product line crafted especially for Indian hair, weather, and water conditions, according to the brand.
“The BBlunt journey has been an extraordinary one, it is a life’s work that led to the creation of our very own product range. BBlunt and Honasa Consumer Pvt ltd share a strong synergy and common brand values,” commented BBlunt founder and director Adhuna Bhabani. “Honasa is a strong player in the Direct to consumer/e-commerce space and they see great potential in the brand and the salon heritage that we have. We, the team, are very excited to see what the future holds in this exciting new chapter for the brand.”
“This is a significant milestone for our business and is a testament to the outstanding team we have assembled, the rapidly scaling salon business we have created, with a solid academy and shoot vertical that we have developed,” said BBlunt CEO Spoorthy Shetty. “We are excited about the acquisition, and we look forward to supporting Honasa’s growth ambitions. This is a win-win situation for both companies and the expected synergies will allow us to broaden our customer, product, geographical and technological base. Our clients will continue to receive the same high quality service, which they have come to expect.”
MAM
Sameer Nair shares heartfelt note as he exits Applause Entertainment
After nine years building the streamer’s content engine, one of India’s best-known TV men is moving on
MUMBAI: Sameer Nair is out. The chief executive of Applause Entertainment, the content studio backed by Kumar Mangalam Birla’s media empire, has announced his departure after nearly nine years at the helm, closing the chapter on one of Indian entertainment’s more quietly consequential careers.
Nair, who built Applause from the ground up in its current avatar, oversaw a slate that spanned Indian originals and international adaptations, threading together a hub-and-spoke business model that partnered with streaming platforms, broadcasters and production houses alike. The results were uneven, as they always are in content, but the ambition was not.
In a post on LinkedIn, Nair was generous to his outgoing patron. He thanked Birla for being an “inspirational boss and a great patron of the arts,” and signed off with a cheerful “Au Revoir” and a promise to remain Applause’s biggest cheerleader. Whether that sentiment survives the next chapter remains to be seen.
No successor has been named. Applause Entertainment did not immediately comment.
Nair built the machine. Now someone else has to run it — and in a streaming market that is simultaneously consolidating and convulsing, that is no small ask.
