Malika Datt Sadani & The Moms Co: A Founder's Journey Fueled by Motherhood
Malika Sadani's journey building The Moms Co., India's top toxin-free D2C brand. Insights on funding, scaling, acquisition & entrepreneurship.
Meet Malika Datt Sadani, the driving force behind The Moms Co., India's largest "Nature In. Toxins Out." brand. What started as a personal quest for safe, natural products for her own children has blossomed into a multi-crore business acquired by The Good Glamm Group, touching the lives of mothers across India. Malika recently shared her incredible journey – from zero to one and beyond – in a candid conversation on the Founder Thesis podcast, hosted by Akshay Datt.
Check out the video of the conversation here or read on for insights.
🌱 Early Roots: Discipline, Focus, and a Fluke Engineering Degree
Growing up as an army kid, Malika's life was shaped by discipline and constant movement across India. Her father, a Major General, instilled in her the power of focus and setting long-term goals, while her "super obsessive" homemaker mother championed education, ensuring Malika and her sister attended top schools despite frequent relocations.
"My father just always taught us to be independent... My father was like you need to get yourself a job because there is no way I can help you sort of shape up your career."
Interestingly, Malika's path into engineering was almost accidental. Set on management studies, a family posting to Kota during her 11th standard, surrounded by intense engineering and medical coaching culture, led her to pursue engineering out of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)! Despite initial reluctance, she embraced Electronics Engineering at Savitribai Phule Pune University, finding it built resilience and analytical skills. She later pursued her initial goal, completing an MBA in Finance from Welingkar Institute of Management (2006-2008).
🇬🇧 The London Chapter: A New Mom's Awakening
After her MBA, Malika joined ICICI Bank's Financial Institutions Group. Life took a turn when her husband, Mohit Sadaani (whom she met on the last day of a college festival at IIM Ahmedabad!), secured a transfer to McKinsey's London office. Five months pregnant, Malika quit her job and moved to London in 2010.
This move proved pivotal. Navigating pregnancy and motherhood in a new country without the usual family support system was eye-opening. The UK's healthcare approach, emphasizing maternal autonomy and providing extensive reading material over prescriptive advice, taught Malika and Mohit to research, question, and make informed choices for their child.
"It just taught us to be more aware of what you were choosing. And that kind of stayed with both Mohit and me throughout our journey as parents as well... we had to create our own playbook."
This experience transformed them into "Google parents," constantly researching the best options. However, the real spark for The Moms Co. ignited upon their return to India in 2012.
✨ The Spark: From Personal Pain Point to Business Idea
Back in India, Malika's daughter developed a persistent, itchy skin reaction. Doctor after doctor prescribed steroid creams, but the issue persisted. Finally, a pediatrician diagnosed it as severe dry skin, needing better moisturization – a shock, as Malika believed she was using good products.
This led her down a rabbit hole: Why weren't existing products working? What ingredients did they contain? She discovered many products used ingredients not considered safe globally, and allergen-free options suitable for her daughter's sensitive skin were scarce. Conversations with other Indian moms revealed a lack of trusted, safe, and effective brands dedicated to mothers' and babies' needs. The gap was clear.
🚀 Launching The Moms Co.: Building Trust, One Mom at a Time (2016)
Driven by her own experience and the identified market gap, Malika, along with co-founder Mohit Sadaani, embarked on the journey to create The Moms Co. in May 2016. Their mission: help moms make safe, natural, effective choices.
The initial phase was challenging. Building trust in the sensitive mom and baby care category with a new brand was paramount. They invested heavily in brand building from the start, bringing in mentors like Shripad Nadkarni (ex-Coca-Cola, J&J) and Nandu Nandkishore (ex-Nestlé, Google board member).
They bootstrapped initially, followed by a crucial friends and family angel round of ₹1.15 Crores (closed around September 2016). Much of this initial capital went into defining the brand identity, packaging, and product development, working with top designers and a manufacturer known for quality (associated with Forest Essentials and Kama Ayurveda in their early days).
"We became as what we wanted. We became a part of people's lives..."
Key Early Strategies:
Initial Focus: Launched with a pregnancy care range (Stretch Mark Oil, Body Butter, Body Wash, Foot Cream) in March 2017, identifying it as an underserved online category.
Channel Strategy: Started simultaneously on their own D2C website and marketplaces (like Amazon), quickly becoming bestsellers in maternity.
Building Credibility: Engaged with gynecologists, who welcomed the product innovation. They even pioneered a shop-in-shop model inside hospital waiting rooms with trained mom counselors.
Community & Content: Malika personally engaged with moms on Facebook groups and built relationships with mom influencers. They focused heavily on storytelling, sharing their authentic founder journey.
Personal Touch: Malika and Mohit personally called early customers to understand their experience, fostering loyalty and gathering invaluable feedback. Their first brand film even featured Malika and her daughters, shot in their home.
📈 Scaling Up: Expanding Range & Reach
The initial focus on pregnancy built crucial trust and credibility.
Year 1 (FY17-18): Ended the year doing ₹25-30 lakhs per month primarily from the pregnancy range. Secured their first institutional funding ($1 Million) from DSG Consumer Partners and Saama Capital just months after launch.
Year 2 (FY18-19): Launched the baby care range (8 SKUs including wash, shampoo, oil, lotion, powder, diaper rash cream) in March 2018. Revenue grew significantly, reaching ₹1 Crore - ₹1.5 Crore per month.
Year 3 onwards (FY19-21): Expanded into face care and hair care for moms, addressing concerns like postpartum hair fall. This broadening definition of "mom" and category expansion fueled rapid growth.
Hitting Milestones: By mid-2021, The Moms Co. hit an impressive ₹150 Crore annual revenue run rate.
Funding Growth: After the initial $1M, they raised approximately $9 Million more across three subsequent rounds, primarily from DSG and Saama, who consistently doubled down on their investment.
🔄 Adapting Through the Pandemic: The Retail Pivot
The COVID-19 pandemic brought unexpected challenges and opportunities. When e-commerce deliveries halted briefly, customer calls highlighted the brand's essential role and the need for offline availability.
"Consumers started calling us and saying how can you be so irresponsible? E-commerce is shut. You are the only thing I use for my baby... Do you expect me to use some other brand?"
This spurred a strategic shift:
Shutting Doctor Channel: The hospital-focused model became unviable.
Embracing Retail: They pivoted towards offline retail (modern trade, pharmacy chains, beauty stores) just as retailers were looking for ways to bring consumers back. The Moms Co. became a drawcard.
Channel Mix Evolution:
Pre-Pandemic/Early 2020: ~70% Marketplaces, ~30% D2C, ~5-10% Doctor Channel.
Post-Pandemic (approx. early 2022): ~60% Marketplaces, ~20% D2C, ~20% Offline Retail.
🤝 The Good Glamm Acquisition: A Strategic Leap (October 2021)
As The Moms Co. eyed a ₹500 Crore revenue target and global expansion, Malika and Mohit sought a strategic partner, not just capital. They needed infrastructure for retail and international growth. After receiving five buyout offers (from FMCG, Pharma, and The Good Glamm Group), they chose Good Glamm (then MyGlamm).
Why Good Glamm?
Shared Vision: Belief in building brands differently for the future.
Synergies: Access to Good Glamm's content-to-commerce ecosystem (POPxo, BabyChakra), vast creator network, shared retail infrastructure, cross-selling opportunities across brands (MyGlamm, St. Botanica, Organic Harvest etc.), and a unified loyalty program.
Founder Alignment: Felt Good Glamm offered the most freedom and focus to scale The Moms Co. vision.
Malika remains deeply involved as Founder, leading the brand's growth and integration within the Good Glamm Group.
🧪 Product Philosophy: Safe, Natural, Effective & Consumer-Led
Product development remains firmly in-house at The Moms Co.
Process: Starts with identifying unmet consumer needs (white spaces) or emerging search trends. Malika's direct interactions via "Ask Malika Anything" sessions on social media are a key feedback channel.
Rigorous Standards: Strict guardrails against toxins (parabens, sulfates, etc.). Focus on high-quality, natural actives.
Testing: Extensive 6-9 month testing process, including third-party clinical validation for efficacy claims.
Manufacturing: Tech transfer process ensures quality control from lab batch to large-scale production with manufacturing partners.
Bestsellers include their Vitamin C range, gift boxes, and the innovative Natural Vita Rich Under Eye Cream with a roller applicator. They continue to innovate, even launching into Home Care (laundry detergents, cleaners) in 2022.
🌍 Vision for the Future: Global Ambitions, Indian Roots
While India remains the core focus ("a huge, huge market"), the vision extends globally. The goal is to be among the top 3 mom and baby care brands worldwide.
International Strategy: Initial focus on the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The plan involves local teams understanding nuanced market needs while maintaining central brand control from India. Exports initially, followed by local manufacturing partnerships at scale.
👩👧👦 The Woman Behind the Brand: Mom, Founder, Mentor
Building The Moms Co. has been an intense journey, deeply intertwined with Malika's own life as a mother of two daughters. She candidly admits work-life balance is elusive ("massive imbalance").
"This dress is called pride."
This moment shifted Malika's perspective on the "mom guilt." While she might miss daily routines, she prioritizes being present for the most important moments. Her journey inspires her daughters, with the older one already dreaming of her own startup.
Key Learnings Shared:
Hire Ahead: Invest in people early; they are low-cost, high-impact assets.
Delegate & Trust: Empower your team; reduce founder dependency. Give people space to learn and implement their expertise.
Build Processes Early: Make the organization process-dependent, not people-dependent.
Seek Mentorship: Leverage external guidance to gain perspective ("It's very hard to read a label when you're inside the bottle").
Today, Malika is passionate about giving back, actively mentoring other founders, particularly women entrepreneurs, sharing her hard-won insights from building a brand born from a mother's love and a founder's relentless spirit.
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