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Shilpa Shetty made over Rs 45 cr on her Rs 6 cr investment in ba care brand, continues to hold stake in billion dollar unicorn: ‘I became rich’ | Bollywood News

Actor Shilpa Shetty, who was an early investor in ba product company Mamaearth, recently shared that she became an investor in the company almost eight years ago when the company was just valued at Rs 35 cr. The company is now known as a ‘unicorn’, which means that it is currently valued at over $1 billion. Shilpa said that she believed in the passion of the founders and since they could not afford her fees as a brand ambassador, she asked them to give her a stake in the business.
In a chat with Femina India, Shilpa said that she met Varun and Ghazal Alagh eight years ago and recalled their initial meeting. “They came to me selling me the idea of these Mamaearth products for kids – mosquito patches and ba shampoos back in the day where I used to travel abroad to procure a good shampoo for my son,” she said and added, “I understood the perils of parents going to get products for their kids, who have sensitive skin.” Shilpa said that Varun was very clear about making this the number one ba product brand and he, along with Ghazal, have achieved that.
“I think, at that time, the business must have been worth like Rs 35 cr. I bought into it because they couldn’t afford a brand ambassador. I said give me a stake, they gave it to me. I became rich. It became a unicorn company,” she said. In 2023, when Mamaearth went for its IPO, it was announced that Shilpa invested Rs 6.7 cr in the company back in 2018 and received 16 lakh shares in the company. Even in 2023, Shilpa’s investment was worth over Rs 39 cr, as per Mint. In 2024, during a chat on ‘Scaling startups through brand ambassadors’, Mint reported that Shilpa continued to hold 2.3 lakh shares in the company. When the company went public in 2023, Shilpa offloaded 13.93 lakh shares for a total of Rs 45.13 crore. On April 17, the stock price of Honasa Consumer Ltd, parent company of Mamaearth, is valued at around Rs 236, making Shilpa’s current investment worth Rs 5.42 cr.
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Shilpa shared that even before she started investing in companies, she was always very mindful of the fact that the products that she endorses are in sync with her personal belief system. “I was very clear about only doing brands that would be synonymous with what I believe in . I could not endorse a brand that is laden with sugar or an aerated drink for any amount of money in the world. A pan masala… They offer you ridiculous sums of money. Sometimes you are like, really? But you can’t compromise your integrity. I just make sure that the moral compass is not compromised,” she said.

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