Kiren Tanna (C) co-founded Una Brands in 2020 with Tobias Heusch (L) and Kushal Patel
Una Brands co-founder Kiren Tanna has announced his departure from the CEO role four years after building the e-commerce aggregating startup, he announced in a LinkedIn post.
Cho Weihao, the current CFO, has taken over the CEO’s role.
Tanna said he would spend more time with his family and explore new ideas at the intersection of consumer and AI while advising founders and the venture ecosystem. He is particularly interested in company building, fundraising, GTM/expansion strategies, and scaling businesses.
Una Brands was established in 2020 by Tanna, the former CEO of Rocket Internet Asia and founder of Foodpanda and ZEN Rooms, with Adrian Johnston, Kushal Patel, Tobias Heusch, and Srinivasan Shridharan.
The company acquires brands selling across multiple e-commerce channels such as Shopify, Shopee, Lazada, Tokopedia, and Amazon. It primarily focuses on profitable independent brands with revenue between US$1 million and US$50 million.
Also Read: Una Brands rakes in US$30M to acquire e-commerce brands in home & living, mom & baby segments
Una Brands has acquired over 20 brands so far and has grown its revenue from zero to a US$70 million run rate. Its flagship brands, ErgoTune and EverDesk, are now in multiple countries across the APAC region and beyond.
According to Tanna, the firm has achieved Group EBITDA profitability. Looking ahead, Una Brands will focus on maintaining profitability with targeted investments in sustainable growth.
The startup has offices in Asia-Pacific, with a presence in Singapore, Australia, India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan.
“The journey has not been without its challenges,” Tanna noted in the post. “As global credit tightened and Covid-driven growth waned, the Amazon aggregator business model was not as hot as when we started. The team had the foresight to make strategic shifts -slowing acquisitions and optimizing spending to achieve profitability, which we have successfully done over the last 18 months.”
Since its inception, the e-commerce aggregator has raised US$115 million in funding from a variety of investors, including White Star Capital, Alpha JWC, 500 Startups, 468 Capital, Claret Capital Partners, and Ninja Van co-founder Alvin Teo.
Rainforest is Una Brands’s key competitor in this space. The Singapore-based startup is backed by Canopy Tropics, Monks Hill Ventures, Insignia Venture Partners, and January Capital.
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