Mamaearth's Ghazal Alagh on stock market debut: We'll continue to challenge norms

Mamaearth co-founders Varun and Ghazal Alagh ring the bell at the Mumbai stock exchange on Tuesday. (Image credit: @GhazalAlagh/X)

"The sun is shining a little brighter today," Ghazal Alagh wrote on Tuesday as she and her husband, Varun Alagh, co-founders of Mamaearth, rang the bell at the Mumbai stock exchange, marking the parent company Honasa Consumer's first day of trading.

"From starting up in a small apartment to the stock exchange, it’s been a journey for Honasa Consumer. Thank you for believing in us. Together we will achieve much more by continuing to challenge norms and transform industries. The future belongs to the resilient!" Ghazal Alagh shared on X.

The sun is shining a little brighter today. From starting up in small apartment to stock exchange, it’s been a journey for @honasa_india .

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Thank you for believing in us. Together we will achieve much more by continuing to challenge norms and transform industries.

The future… pic.twitter.com/du2pm3V2i9

— Ghazal Alagh (@GhazalAlagh) November 7, 2023

The Mamaearth co-founder's confidence in faring well in the stock market showed even during her interaction with social media users. When an X user said that she seemed to be overconfident about her company's performance, Ghazal Alagh was quick to respond. "Not overconfidence sir, it’s just confidence in my business."

The cynicism was not unusual among traders and experts prior to Mamaearth's IPO listing probably because the company first won customers’ trust with products, then approached the public to raise money.

The seven-year-old company had started as toxin-free products for babies has evolved into a house of six brands today. But, customer loyalty has been hard to come by. Several of its products, especially the onion hair growth oil, has been the butt of jokes on social media for not producing any results.

But, it subscribed 7.59 times on the final day of bidding, receiving bids for 21.92 crore shares against the issue size of 2.89 crore shares, and found supporters in Zomato and CEO Deepinder Goyal and The Third Unicorn founder and former Shark Tank India judge Ashneer Grover.

Goyal was allotted 33,422 shares but Grover's name does not pop up in the allottee or non-allottee lists, although he claimed to have applied "quietly and handsomely'" for it.

Read more: Ashneer Grover applies in Mamaearth IPO, says they shut down critics in style: 'Kudos'