Mensa Brand Technologies, which owns a slew of direct-to-consumer businesses under the Mensa Brands umbrella, has raised Rs 300 crore ($36 million) in debt financing from alternative debt platform TradeCred.

The new funds will be used for additional acquisitions, product development, supply chain integration, and working capital investment by the startup.

As of February 2022, TradeCred, which was founded in 2018 by Hardik Shah, had over 2,200 crore in AUM and over 20,000 active users. 50 UHNIs have collectively participated in Mensa’s financing arrangement.

It has previously invested in businesses such as Boutique Spirit Brands and Matrix Partners-backed construction supply platform ZippMat. Mensa Brands, which will be launched in 2021, will pursue a ‘house of brands’ strategy, in which it will acquire and partner with digital-first brands with the goal of accelerating growth through on-the-ground expertise and tech-led interventions in marketing and operations.

It claims to have onboarded 25 brands from the fashion, home, beauty, and FMCG industries. It employs approximately 700 people across offices in Bangalore, Mumbai, Gurgaon, the UAE, and the United States.

Mensa’s most recent investments include lifestyle portals MensXP and iDiva, as well as the creator management and marketing company Hypp, which they purchased from Times Internet. It paid an undisclosed sum for the peanut butter brand MyFitness in September of last year.

Mensa has raised more than $300 million (approximately Rs 2,251 crore) in equity and debt in less than six months since its inception. Among the company’s notable investors are Accel Partners, Alpha Wave Global, Norwest Venture Partners, Prosus, and Tiger Global Management. Debt financing has been provided to the company by Alteria Capital, InnoVen Capital, Piramal Capital, Stride Ventures, and TradeCredit.