Mumbai-based Ayurvedic food brand Kapiva Ayurveda has raised ₹17.5 crores ($2.5 million) in its first round of institutional funding from Fireside Ventures, Mohandas Pai’s Family Office, Madhu Kela and GITS Foods. The startup will use the freshly raised capital to build brand awareness and scale its distribution process.
Founded by Baidyanath Group’s former executive Ameve Sharma and Ban Capital’s ex-investor Shrey Badhani, the startup makes high quality traditional Indian foods including ghee, honey and herbal juices. It has a portfolio of more than 40 Ayurvedic food products. The startup has a presence in 4,000 outlets in 10 cities across India.
“We have huge headroom for growth since less than 5 per cent of food and consumable products in India are natural or herbal. We are making a difference through value-added nutrition, especially through careful sourcing of ingredients. Our goal is to make Kapiva Ayurveda a brand loved by people worldwide for providing the most authentic, high quality traditional Indian and Ayurvedic foods. The ingredients are sourced with careful supervision and stringent quality control. Leveraging the more than 100-year-old rich heritage and know-how of Baidyanath, Kapiva Ayurveda is spreading the health and wellness message of Ayurveda through food,” says Co-founder Ameve Sharma.
Kapiva Ayurveda sells its products through online channels like Amazon and has expanded its offline presence to the United States. It has also entered offline channels in top cities by partnering with traditional retail outlets and big chains like Reliance Retail and Nature’s Basket. The startup is actively working to penetrate into more areas and focus deeper into its markets.
VS Kannan Sitaram, of Fireside Ventures, says, “Kapiva is targeting the fast-growing everyday wellness foods space with high-quality products developed using appropriate technology. We believe each of Kapiva’s products brings something unique to the consumer and we are very excited to work with Ameve and the Kapiva team to grow this brand. Kapiva is an excellent example of early-stage consumer investing that we at Fireside focus on.”
Earlier in 2017, Kapiva Ayurveda raised around ₹4.4 crores ($628,571) from a group of angel investors. The fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) segment is the fourth largest sector in the Indian economy. The market size of FMCG in India is estimated to grow from ₹2,10,000 crores ($30 billion) in 2011 to INT 5,18,000 crores ($74 billion) in 2018. Food products is the leading segment, accounting for 43 per cent of the overall market.
