Sofina Ventures Offloads Honasa Consumer’s Shares Via ₹177 Cr Bulk Deal

Honasa Consumer’s investor Sofina Ventures has parsed its stake in the BPC major via a bulk deal worth about ₹177.2 Cr.

According to NSE bulk deal data, Sofina, via its holding entity Sofina Ventures S.A., sold 41.78 Lakh shares at ₹424.07 apiece. The selling price is over 1.5% higher than the stock’s closing price of ₹417.7 on the BSE today. 

The transaction involved nearly 1.28% stake in Honasa Consumer, the parent company of D2C beauty and personal care brands including Mamaearth, The Derma Co, Aqualogica, BBlunt and Dr. Sheth’s.

The identity of the buyers could not be immediately ascertained from exchange disclosures.

The Belgian-based investment firm first backed Honasa Consumer when it led its $50 Mn funding round in 2021. It partially exited its stake during Honasa’s IPO in November 2023 and further trimmed its holdings through block deals in June 2024.

The latest stake sale comes amid a period of strategic transformation for Honasa Consumer after reporting robust financials for the fiscal year FY26.  

Earlier this week, the company announced the acquisition of a 58% stake in nutraceuticals company Fluence Pharma for ₹135 Cr, marking its entry into the fast-growing nutrition and supplements segment. 

The acquisition aligns with Honasa’s recently unveiled “Honasa 3.0” strategy, under which the company aims to more than double its revenue to over ₹5,500 Cr by FY31 while expanding EBITDA margins beyond 15%. 

Buoyed by strong business performance, Honasa’s shares have been largely rallying this year. The company’s shares have gained about 42% on a year-to-date basis, touching a 52-week high of ₹437.90 earlier this month. 

However, the stake sale by the investment firm should not be viewed solely in context of the BPC major. 

Beyond Honasa, early investors of Indian startups, which have been listed on the bourses for some time now, have been offloading shares in droves over the past few weeks. 

Prominent Indian startup investors like SoftBank, Alpha Wave Ventures, Actis, Peak XV, Elevation Capital, Tencent, have cashed in on their bets on new-age tech companies like Paytm, Lenskart, Pine Labs, Delhivery, among others, in recent months, 

For instance, Shadowfax’s early backer Mirae Asset offloaded a stake worth ₹120 Cr just yesterday, months after the listing of the logistics company. Companies like Pine Labs and Delhivery have also seen multiple block deals materialise within this week itself.

On the flip side, primary capital infusion for the Indian startup ecosystem has been steadily picking up over the past few weeks. Indian startups raised $427.1 Mn between June 15 and 19, marking a 76% uptick from $242.6 Mn raised in the preceding week.

A similar uptick was also recorded in the previous week’s cumulative funding. Weekly capital infusion is poised to be significantly higher this week, owed to CRED’s $900 Mn fund raise.

For Sofina, the stake sale in Honasa comes amid a renewed focus on the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem. Earlier this month, the investor co-led the $55 Mn Series B round of FirstClub. It had also backed IPO-bound D2C brand The Whole Truth earlier this year.

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