Masaba Gupta launched House of Masaba in 2009 at the age of 19 and later sold a 51% stake to Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail in a ₹90 crore deal.
The Story: At 19, with a diploma in apparel design and no business plan, she showed a small collection at Lakme Fashion Week. Her mother sponsored the debut because no one else would. Thirteen years later, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail bought 51 percent of her label for Rs 90 crore, betting it could grow into a Rs 500 crore fashion and beauty brand. This is the founder story behind House of Masaba.
People Also Ask
- Who founded House of Masaba? Masaba Gupta founded House of Masaba in 2009 at age 19, debuting her first collection at Lakme Fashion Week after studying Apparel Manufacturing and Design at SNDT Women’s University in Mumbai.
- How much is House of Masaba worth? Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail acquired a 51 percent stake in January 2022 for Rs 90 crore, valuing the full business at roughly Rs 176 crore at the time of the deal, with a five year target of Rs 500 crore in annual revenue.
- What is House of Masaba’s revenue? The apparel business alone posted Rs 16 crore, Rs 20 crore, and Rs 14 crore in three consecutive years before the deal, with FY22 revenue expected to touch Rs 30 crore, not counting the separate beauty business.
- Who are Masaba Gupta’s parents? She is the daughter of Indian actress Neena Gupta and West Indies cricket legend Sir Viv Richards, who never married. Her mother raised her in Mumbai.
- Did Masaba Gupta receive outside funding before the Aditya Birla deal? Yes. In 2019, a seed round led by Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal brought in roughly 1 million dollars, though Masaba retained founder control until the 2022 majority stake sale.
Timeline: From Lakme Fashion Week to a Conglomerate Deal
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1989 | Born in New Delhi; raised in Mumbai by her mother, Neena Gupta |
| 2005 to 2008 | Studies Apparel Manufacturing and Design at SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai |
| 2009 | Launches House of Masaba at age 19, debuting at Lakme Fashion Week with support from designer Wendell Rodricks |
| 2017 | Named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list |
| 2019 | Raises a seed round of roughly 1 million dollars led by Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal |
| 2020 | Netflix airs Masaba Masaba, a semi fictional series starring Masaba and her mother as themselves |
| January 2022 | Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail acquires a 51 percent stake for Rs 90 crore |
| 2024 to 2025 | Brand expands into bridal wear and launches a fine jewelry collaboration with Amrapali Jewels |
Quick Facts
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Masaba Gupta |
| Born | 2 November 1989, New Delhi |
| Parents | Neena Gupta (actress), Sir Viv Richards (cricketer) |
| Education | Diploma in Apparel Manufacturing and Design, SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai |
| Company Founded | House of Masaba (2009) |
| Age at Founding | 19 |
| Majority Stakeholder | Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (51 percent, since January 2022) |
| Acquisition Amount | Rs 90 crore |
| Pre-Deal Apparel Revenue | Rs 16 crore, Rs 20 crore, Rs 14 crore across three years; FY22 est. Rs 30 crore |
| Five Year Revenue Target (set 2022) | Rs 500 crore |
| Notable Recognition | Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia (2017) |
| Beauty Line | LoveChild by Masaba, in collaboration with Nykaa |
How Masaba Gupta Built a Fashion Label With No Business Plan
A Debut Funded by Her Mother
Masaba Gupta did not enter fashion with a strategy. Fashion, in her own words, was never on her radar to begin with. She studied Apparel Manufacturing and Design at SNDT Women’s University in Mumbai and, at 19, decided to show a collection at Lakme Fashion Week. She had no capital of her own for the debut. Her mother, actress Neena Gupta, sponsored the collection once it was shortlisted, a fact Masaba has credited as the thing that allowed her to start at all.
The debut collection was named Kattran, meaning miniature bits of fabric, and it won her the Most Promising Designer Award that season. What followed was not a polished business rollout but a designer finding her voice in public, collection by collection, often naming each one after a literary or cultural reference and building a reputation for bold, unconventional prints, cows, cameras, tigers, Tamil script, pineapples, that stood apart from the florals and paisleys dominating Indian fashion at the time.
Learning the Business After Learning the Craft
By her own account, the first several years were about creative instinct rather than commercial strategy. It took time to understand what she calls the balance between creativity, functionality, and commercial viability. Her insight, once it crystallized, was specific: there was a gap in the market for clothing that was neither strict couture nor mass market pret, something she describes as an anytime anywhere brand.
That positioning let House of Masaba expand steadily beyond apparel into fashion jewelry, accessories, menswear, swimwear, and eventually beauty, without diluting the core design identity that made the label recognizable. A collaboration line with Nykaa under the name LoveChild by Masaba brought her into the beauty and personal care space directly, ahead of the broader company sale.
The Aditya Birla Deal
In January 2022, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited, one of India’s largest fashion conglomerates, announced it would acquire a 51 percent stake in House of Masaba for Rs 90 crore. The company’s own pre-deal numbers told a modest but improving story: apparel revenue had moved through Rs 16 crore, Rs 20 crore, and Rs 14 crore across three years, with the dip attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, and FY22 revenue was projected to touch Rs 30 crore. Those figures did not include the separate beauty business.
ABFRL’s stated rationale was not simply to buy a designer name. The company explicitly framed the acquisition as a foray into branded beauty and personal care as much as fashion, with plans to extend the Masaba brand into cosmetics, personal care, athleisure, and home decor. The target ABFRL set publicly was ambitious: roughly Rs 500 crore in annual revenue within five years of the deal, primarily through a digital direct-to-consumer strategy aimed at Gen Z consumers.
What Masaba Retained
Unlike a full acquisition, the deal left Masaba Gupta as founder and creative lead with a meaningful minority stake, rather than cashing out entirely. This structure mirrors a pattern seen across celebrity-founded Indian brands: retain enough equity and creative control to stay accountable for the brand’s direction, while handing distribution, manufacturing scale, and retail infrastructure to a partner built for exactly that.
A 2019 seed round of roughly 1 million dollars, led by Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, had already validated investor appetite in the brand years before the ABFRL deal, giving Masaba leverage in later negotiations rather than desperation to sell.
House of Masaba’s Growth Levers
| Growth Lever | How It Was Used |
|---|---|
| Design Identity | Bold, unconventional prints became instantly recognizable, reducing reliance on paid marketing |
| Celebrity Network | Early friendships with Sonam Kapoor and Rhea Kapoor circulated the brand across Bollywood social circles before formal marketing existed |
| Category Expansion | Moved from apparel into jewelry, menswear, swimwear, and beauty without losing brand coherence |
| Media Presence | The Netflix series Masaba Masaba kept the founder’s personal story in public view alongside the brand |
| Strategic Partner | Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail supplied distribution, retail infrastructure, and category expansion capital that an independent founder could not easily raise alone |
Key Takeaways
- Masaba Gupta founded House of Masaba in 2009 at age 19 with no formal business plan, funded initially by her mother
- The brand grew over 13 years through consistent design identity rather than early institutional capital
- A 2019 seed round of roughly 1 million dollars, led by Binny Bansal, preceded the larger 2022 deal
- Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail acquired a 51 percent stake in January 2022 for Rs 90 crore
- Pre-deal apparel revenue ranged between Rs 14 crore and Rs 20 crore annually, with a Rs 500 crore five year target set post-acquisition
- The brand has since expanded into bridal wear, fine jewelry collaborations, and beauty under the LoveChild by Masaba line
- Her story reflects craft-first brand building, where design consistency preceded any formal business strategy
Sources
- Business Today: Aditya Birla Fashion picks 51% stake in House of Masaba for Rs 90 cr
- Wikipedia: Masaba Gupta
- YourStory HerStory: Masaba Gupta on 10 Years of House of Masaba, and Building a Profitable Business in Fashion
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