The company was incorporated on May 17, 2010 as a private limited company under the Companies Act 1956, with the name “Brainbees Solutions Private Limited” at Pune, Maharashtra, India pursuant to a certificate of incorporation issued by the Registrar of Companies, Maharashtra at Pune (the “RoC”). Upon the conversion of the company to a public limited company pursuant to a resolution passed by its Board on August 31, 2023 and a special resolution passed by its Shareholders at the extra-ordinary general meeting on September 5, 2023, the name of the company was changed to “Brainbees Solutions Limited”. A fresh certificate of incorporation dated November 2, 2023 was issued by the RoC consequent to the company’s conversion into a public limited company. 

Brainbees Solutions (Firstcry) is India’s largest multi-channel retailing platform for Mothers’, Babies’ and Kids’ products, with a growing presence in select international markets. In India, it sells Mothers’, Babies’ and Kids’ products through its online platform, company-owned modern stores, franchisee-owned modern stores and general trade retail distribution. It launched the FirstCry platform in India in 2010 with the goal to create a one-stop destination for parenting needs across commerce, content, community engagement, and education. It named its platform “FirstCry” because a baby’s first cry is a special moment for parents, and it aims to make such moments of the parenting journey filled with joy and happiness. It seeks to develop a tangible, emotional, multi-year relationship with parents, especially mothers, with whom its first engagement begins from their baby’s conception (i.e., nine months before birth) and can continue until their child reaches about 12 years of age. The company operates in a retail category with high purchase frequency, in which children outgrow clothing sizes quickly and need consumables such as diapers and other baby products along with other needs that evolve with age. Thus, once parents establish a connection with it, they are likely to start a predictable and frequent transactional journey of about twelve years as their children grow.

Across the company’s platform, it offers products from third-party Indian brands, global brands, and its home brands. It has have created trusted home brands in the Mothers’, Babies’ and Kids’ products categories through its deep insights and understanding of the requirements of its customers, robust data analytics tools, in-house design and development capabilities and by leveraging the market recognition of the “FirstCry” brand. As a reflection of FirstCry’s strong brand recognition and customer trust, BabyHug, one of FirstCry’s home brands, is the largest multi-category Mothers’, Babies’, and Kids’ products brand in India. Further, it leverages its management team’s experience in creating and scaling up its home brands to help D2C Indian and global brands scale their business in India across direct-to-customer channels and modern stores. These brands will benefit from its expertise in creating and scaling brands and leverage its multi-channel distribution network, sourcing capabilities, supply chain infrastructure, and integrated technology ecosystem.

Business area of the company

Brainbees Solutions, doing business as FirstCry.com, operates an online store for baby and kids products. The company retails diapers, wipes, changing pads and mats, breast feeding products, bibs, medicines, apparels, bath and skin care, gifts, thermometers, and school supplies. 

Key awards, accreditations and recognitions

• 2013: Received an award for being the “most popular online retail store” in the Child Most Popular Awards 2013 from Child (India’s Largest Selling Parenting Magazine).
• 2013: Ranked amongst top 100 franchise opportunities by Franchise India.
• 2015: Ranked amongst top 100 franchise opportunities by Franchise India.
• 2017: Received an award for “innovation in recruitment” under Organizational Category A: Turnover up to Rs 1,000 crore in Genius HR Excellence Awards 2017 from Genius Consultants Limited.
• 2018: Received an award for being the “best e-commerce warehouse” in the Global Logistics Excellence Awards from Tata Strategic Management Group.
• 2018: Received the “kids retailer of the year” award in Star Retailer Awards 2018.
• 2019: Ranked amongst top 100 franchise opportunities by Franchise India. 
• 2021: Received an award for being the “best employer” in the Best Employer Brand Awards 2021 from World HRD Congress.
• 2022: FirstCry Intellitots has been ranked second under Grand Jury India Preschool Rankings as ‘India’s most respected early childhood education brand’ by Education World.
• 2023: Firstcry.com received the Images most admired fashion brand of the year: Kidswear award at the IFA 22nd Annual Images Fashion Awards, 2023.

Major events and milestones

• 2010: Incorporation of the company.
• 2010: Delivered the first shipment of an online order.
• 2011: Opened first Firstcry.com franchisee physical store at Bharuch, Gujarat.
• 2011: Launched home brands “BabyHug” and “Cutewalk”.
• 2013: Launched Firstcry hospital gift hamper program.
• 2014: Launched same day and next day delivering options.
• 2016: Ratan Tata became an investor in the company.
• 2016: Acquired the “Babyoye” business from erstwhile MRL.
• 2017: Launched Firstcry parenting platform.
• 2018: Signed an international license agreement with The William Carter Company for obtaining rights and licenses from The William Carter Company in order to carry out sale of purchased products by the company.
• 2018: Launched “Intellikit”, a kids’ education subscription program.
• 2018: Launched premium fashion brand for babywear “Babyoye”.
• 2019: Opened 500th franchisee physical store in India.
• 2019: Launched Firstcry.ae in UAE.
• 2019: Acquired a school business and entered into the preschool education business.
• 2020: Opened first BabyHug company owned physical store in Dhanori, Pune, Maharastra, India.
• 2020: Acquired majority stake in Swara Baby Products, a diaper manufacturer company.
• 2020: Launched PineKids for 4-12 age group.
• 2021: Acquired majority stake in Globalbees Brands.
• 2021: Firstcry Club Membership was launched on both online and offline platforms.
• 2022: Acquired Digital Age.
• 2022: Commenced operations in KSA.
• 2023: Increased shareholding in Subsidiary, Swara Baby.