In May 2022, Inc42 announced the launch of ScaleUp in collaboration with the short-video platform Josh. Through this exercise, we sought to discover India’s most promising consumer startups with the potential to transform the country’s consumer ecosystem.
As we embarked on a journey to identify the brightest of the lot, we came across hundreds of applications from startups operating across sectors like fintech, ecommerce and consumer services. These startups not only used innovative products and services to solve real-world problems but also caught the attention of VCs and other investors.
This underlines the mighty rise of India’s consumer internet economy and how startups in this space are disrupting incumbents with tech-driven solutions. According to Inc42’s recent report on the State Of Consumer Internet In India, the country’s consumer internet market is estimated to surpass $1.6 Tn by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 28%.
After weeks of deliberation, we have picked 20 consumer startups that stand way above the competition.
The list features a vibrant mix of startups across categories, including beauty, wellness, food and nutrition, electronics, apparel and more. The top five will earn ad credits worth INR 20 Lakh each from Josh to advertise on its platform and get ample exposure to its 74 Mn daily and 153 Mn monthly active users. The remaining 15 will get ad credits worth INR 5 Lakh each.
We present to you the ScaleUp Top 20!
Editor’s Note: The lists below are not meant to be rankings of any kind. We have listed the startups in alphabetical order under each category.
ScaleUp Top 5
Get-A-Whey
3 Lakh Customers Gobbled Up Get-A-Whey’s Guilt-Free Ice Cream; How Omnichannel Boosted This Brand’s Sales
People want to stay physically fit and mentally alert in the wake of the pandemic, and eating healthy is the only success mantra here. However, those keen to start a healthy diet are routinely asked to cut back on sugar, but going cold turkey is never easy.
Jash and Pashmi Shah were self-professed fitness freaks, but they had also seen their parents struggle to balance diabetes with their overly active sweet tooth. Eventually, they knew what healthy alternatives could keep people off their sugar cravings. In came Get-A-Whey, India’s first ‘guilt-free’ ice cream, which is high in protein, low in calories and contains no added sugar.
“In fact, Get-A-Whey is a concept born out of our mother’s kitchen,” said Pashmi.
Launched in 2019, the Mumbai-based ice cream brand started with six flavours and currently offers nine high-protein and four keto-friendly ice creams along with low-cal popsicles, ice cream sandwiches and waffle bites.
What’s more, omnichannel works best for Get-A-Whey. Besides selling its products through its website, the brand is available in the city’s physical stores and across reputed chains like Godrej Natures Basket and Noble Plus. One can also order it on quick commerce sites like Blinkit, Swiggy and Zomato. The aim is to grow the customer base by designing channel-specific sales strategies and optimising each distribution channel.
The startup claims a user base of more than 3 Lakh and has an INR 30 Cr revenue run rate for FY23. By 2025, Get-A-Whey aims to be present in all premium stores across India, launch new categories and expand to more cities via cloud kitchens. It is also planning to enter the Middle East and other global markets.
Gynoveda
How Ayurveda Startup Gynoveda Is Destigmatising Menstrual Health, Targeting 10x Growth
Around the world and in India, conversations about menstrual health are still met with an awkward silence. The outcome: Medical issues are not addressed fast enough, given the social stigma and hesitation. A study also revealed that millions of women aged between 12 and 52 (from puberty to menopause) suffer from period-related issues and menstrual disorders but often lack easy-to-access, affordable menstrual care.
Things might have continued in this vein, but for Vishal Gupta, who suffered from lifestyle disorders for more than a decade until ayurveda offered him a permanent cure. During this journey, he delved deep into the age-old ayurvedic practices and discovered effective remedies for irregular periods, pain, abnormal discharge, PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) and 20 such gynaecological issues. So, Gupta and his wife, Rachana, and Dr Aarati Patil, set up Gynoveda in 2019, marrying the ancient science of ayurveda with modern technology, content and community to ensure holistic menstruation care.
The Mumbai-based D2C brand offers a wide range of products including those that help reverse PCOS, PCOD, support ovulation, improve fertility and provide relief from excessive discharge & itching. The company claims that its products contain only ayurvedic herbs, which are rigorously tested for purity, safety and, most importantly, potency, claiming to have zero side effects.
The brand says it has touched the lives of 2.7 Lakh women by empowering them to take charge of their menstrual and reproductive health. Its products are sold through its website and ecommerce marketplaces, while the company has a revenue run rate of INR 100 Cr for FY23. It has recently launched a celebrity campaign with Taapsee Pannu for an all-India reach.
Looking at long-term growth, Gupta said that Gynoveda would try to grow 10x by 2025 and benefit 1 Cr women (just 10% of the total addressable market) in the process.
Nutrifresh
Nutrifresh Deep-Dives Into Precision Farming To Capitalise On The $24 Bn+ India Opportunity
Even before the pandemic struck the world and underlined the need for a healthy lifestyle and strong immunity, ‘woke’ consumers across India were looking at food provenance to know where the farm produce came from, whether chemicals were used in agriculture or green farming had been adopted.
Pune-based banker Sanket Mehta, who often handled agri loan proposals, was aware of this paradigm shift. Eager to be a part of the new-age agriculture, he teamed up with Ganesh Nikam, who had a farming background, researched a host of sustainable farming techniques and decided to specialise in hydroponics (the method of growing plants without soil).
According to him, the benefits are many, as it requires less water in a controlled environment; veggies are available throughout the year, and prices remain moderate. Mehta also claims delivery takes less than 24 hours, and his agri startup Nutrifresh ensures that no human hands touch the produce or there is minimum intervention.
Besides servicing a monthly active user base of 2,500 via its website and mobile app, Nutrifresh sells its products to more than 100 B2B aggregators such as Nature’s Basket, BigBasket and KissanKonnect.
The company claims a 3x rise in sales in FY22 compared to the previous financial year. It is now building a knowledge platform for hydroponic farming and the 42 crops it specialises in, and looking to acquire and develop agricultural land for further growth in FY23.
Nutrifresh plans to expand its operations beyond Mumbai and Pune and enter other cities like Surat and Ahmedabad by 2025 as it looks to capitalise on the $24 Bn+ Indian agritech opportunity.
RAS Luxury Oils
How RAS Luxury Oils Is Nurturing An Organic Cult To Rejuvenate Skincare
It all started when Shubhika Jain, working in the agri division of her family business, explored the beauty market and found that few players in the personal care space follow the global guidelines for procuring and using top-quality ingredients. Most homegrown companies used synthetic materials and chemical components. On the other hand, global brands purchased rare herbs and rich natural ingredients from India and sold the finished products to quality-conscious consumers at a premium.
Recognising the growing demand for top-quality organic products in the skincare market, Shubhika, her mother Sangeeta and sister Suramya launched RAS Luxury Oils in 2017, hoping to bring the authenticity and efficacy of natural products from organic farms to the beauty world.
The Raipur-based D2C luxury beauty brand currently has 132 products listed on its website. With formulations researched and developed in its DSIR-approved labs, the brand manufactures its products following the strictest EU guidelines.
RAS claims a user base of more than 75K and says that 80% of its revenue comes from its website. The brand is also present on major marketplaces like Nykaa, Amazon and Tata CLiQ Luxury. Its products are also retailed through luxury hotels and spas across the country. The startup is looking to consolidate existing sales channels (Nykaa and Amazon) to scale up its website’s operations.
Speaking about the future, Shubhika said that the company would launch new product lines, look at new sales channels like Shoppers Stop and establish a successful brand presence in the US, the UK and the UAE markets by 2025. It would also drive global sales by partnering with Amazon USA.
The State Plate
How The State Plate Tapped Regional Food Diversity To Deliver 1 Lakh+ Orders In 2 Years
Education, job and marriage are the key criteria why many people leave their parental homes and relocate. But the one thing they will always crave is hometown food, which may not be available anywhere else.
Bengaluru-based Muskaan Sancheti and Raghav Jhawar, fresh out of college, were about to join their new jobs when India went into a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19. One morning, Sancheti ran out of her favourite Rajasthani papad, had to order it from afar and paid a hefty delivery fee. Realising there must be many ‘incomers’ who want to get their hands on their favourite dishes but do not know where to get them locally, Sancheti and Jhawar set up The State Plate in 2020. The mission: Doorstep delivery of high-quality and authentic regional food items.
The Bengaluru-based D2C startup features more than 75 SKUs across six categories and claims to have delivered 1 lakh+ orders via its website and marketplaces like Amazon and CRED. It aims to add more items to its menu and enter new marketplaces and B2B distribution channels in 2022. In another three years, the startup aims to be India’s #1 regional food brand, covering the country’s food diversity that is so unique yet under-tapped.
ScaleUp Next 15
AlgoBulls
How AlgoBulls Is Democratising Stock Trading Through Automation, ‘Strategies’ To Help 20K Users
As inflation and economic slowdown pose a double whammy, most people want to supplement their incomes by making money in stocks. But given the volatility of the equity markets, following the advice of all and sundry who claim to know how to generate wealth quickly could do more harm than good, said Pushpak Dagade, an IIT-Delhi alumnus.
To address this pain point, Dagade and his partners, Suraj Bathija and Jimmit Patel, created an AI-based system in 2019 that could fetch live market data in real time, use the same to compute signals and execute a transaction when there was a buy/sell signal. After receiving a great response from traders and investors, the trio launched AlgoBulls in the same year.
Powered by a deep tech stack, the stock market advisory offers fully automated trading algorithms and multiple strategies for asset classes like stocks, commodities, and futures and options (F&O). For instance, there is a ‘Choose’ or a ‘Build’ strategy to help its 20K+ registered users, while the platform provides easy access to expert traders’ knowledge in just a few clicks.
The startup earns through subscription or a pay-as-you-go model and has a revenue run rate of $1 Mn+ for FY23. By 2025, it aims to democratise algo trading for retail investors by bringing a platter of financial products to meet different goals and risk appetites.
ALMO
How Its Bet On Style And Comfort Won ALMO 10 Lakh+ Customers In 2 Years
Serial entrepreneur Abhishek Shah has a knack for building startups. He was the founding member and CEO of (the now defunct) men’s fashion apparel e-store Fetise.com and also helmed the bikes vertical at CarDekho, an automobile marketplace that joined the unicorn club last year.
After observing the Indian startup ecosystem up close, Shah realised that the premium innerwear segment for men was primarily dominated by global entities like Jockey, Van Heusen and Calvin Klein. But this functional clothing category was fast emerging as a fashion statement among the urban youth. To cash in on this opportunity driven by a fashion-forward India, Shah launched the men’s innerwear brand ALMO in 2020 and got Chhavi Bhardwaj Kargaonkar, Kshitij Ladia and Muskaan Jain on board.
The Gurugram-based D2C brand began its journey with a product line made of eco-friendly fabrics. But it soon entered other categories like men’s loungewear, aiming to blend comfort, quality and style to redefine an oft-ignored space.
ALMO primarily sells through its website, but its products are also available on major marketplaces like Amazon India and Myntra. According to Shah, the company is clocking a gross margin of 70% and a positive contributing margin of 10% as it sells directly to consumers and bypasses intermediaries. So far, it has catered to more than 10 Lakh customers.
In May 2022, the startup raised $2 Mn in Pre-Series A. It was also among the top 16 brands selected by the Amazon Global Selling Propel Programme and entered the US and the UAE markets.
The D2C brand aims to venture into more categories in FY23, including athleisure and winter wear staples for men, wants to scale up its business overseas and hit a revenue run rate of INR 20 Cr. It is eyeing an Annual Recurring Revenue of INR 100 Cr in the next 18 months by doubling down on its sales channels.
Bili hu
How Bootstrapped D2C Brand Bili Hu Is Brewing The Passion For Good Coffee
India is a tea connoisseur’s paradise, the second-largest producer after China. But the coffee culture is also gaining ground here. The country is among the world’s top 10 coffee producers and accounted for 3% of the global output in 2020. And just like tea, most of the top-quality brew is now exported and rarely reaches local markets, said Bharat Singhal, founder of Bili hu.
“Earlier, there was a dearth of good, single-estate coffees, but that was before Bili hu came up in 2019,” he recalled. The Noida-based brand now works closely with the coffee farmers of Chikmagalur in Karnataka, known as the coffee belt of India.
Interestingly, a major chunk of Bili hu’s revenue comes from luxury hotels, fine-dining restaurants, gourmet cafés and boutique homestays. The brand boasts an omnichannel presence and sells coffee beans and premixed coffee powders via its website, marketplaces (Amazon and BigBasket) and brick-and-mortar stores. The pricing is pocket-friendly – a 200g pack of Bili hu costs INR 400-450.
It has also launched a signature range of kombucha (a tea drink known for its health benefits), granola, biscottis and cookies to supplement its offerings.
The company claims it has served more than 5,000 B2B clients and clocked its highest monthly revenue in July 2022.
Talking about Bili hu’s next growth phase, Singhal said that the brand would try to reach 10K+ offline stores by 2025 to provide an added sensory experience. “We want to reach the masses so that everyone gets to taste something better than instant coffee.”
Bold Care
Men’s Sexual Health Startup Bold Care Turns Taboo To Trend, Eyes INR 30 Cr, 10 Lakh+ Users
When Rajat Jadhav and Rahul Krishnan set up a hyperlocal e-pharmacy in 2015, they found that 25% of the orders placed on the platform involved sexual health products. The startup was shut down a year later, but the insight into consumer priority helped them decide on the next business. In 2019, the duo teamed up with Harsh Singh and Mohit Yadav to build a trusted platform to cater to men’s sexual health and wellness. And Bold Care was born.
The Mumbai-based D2C brand currently offers 26 SKUs under four categories – sexual health, daily nutrition, hygiene and hair care. Bold Care claims its products have a 95% efficacy rate and are tested by a NABL-accredited lab (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories) before hitting the market.
As men’s sexual health is still taboo in India, leaving millions at the mercy of misinformation and quacks, the startup connects people directly with the help they need and provides free consultations with licensed sexologists and urologists. This service category has emerged as the brand’s flagship and seen a 50K+ user base.
Jadhav, founder and CEO of Bold Care, claimed a 300% YoY revenue growth since its inception. “In August, our net monthly recurring revenue stood at INR 2 Cr,” he added.
In the past seven months, Bold Care has recorded a 3x jump in revenue and aims to cross 10 Lakh+ users by the end of FY23.
Boldfit
Boldfit Is Building Affordable Fitness To Pave The Path For INR 100 Cr Revenue Run Rate
During his fitness journey, Pallav Bihani realised how expensive it could be to fulfil one’s fitness goals as the Indian market tends to overflow with costly equipment and dietary supplements. “That’s when I saw an opportunity to make fitness affordable,” he said.
In 2019, Bihani set up Boldfit, a Bengaluru-based bootstrapped venture, to bring high-quality health and fitness products at pocket-friendly pricing. The D2C brand currently offers 75+ SKUs under health supplements, fitness accessories, healthy foods and ayurvedic categories, claims to work with WHO-GMP-certified manufacturers and follows rigorous quality checks. It has also partnered with dieticians and health and fitness experts to provide holistic solutions.
The startup sells its products like yoga mats, shaker bottles and home gym accessories via its website, although the brand is listed on marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, Nykaa and HealthXP. It has delivered more than 2.5 Mn orders across the country.
In May 2022, Boldfit won the Amazon Smbhav Digital Business Of The Year award, an initiative to foster innovation and support entrepreneurship in India. The brand claims that it has launched more products in Q2 2022 than in the past two years. It also aims to enter the US and the EU markets in another three-five years.
Deciwood
How Deciwood’s Patented Tech Is Transforming India’s Audio Hardware Market, Paving The Path For INR 100 Cr Revenue
In 2018, music lovers Karan Shukla, Ananya Meena and Aakash Mehta noticed a scarcity of top-quality Bluetooth speakers in the Indian market. “At the time, the sound used to get distorted on most devices when the volume was high,” recalled Meena. Plus, most of these speakers were imported and cost a bomb, although the audio was not up to the mark.
The trio decided to better the sound quality, did their research and soon developed and patented a technology that balanced the bass and the treble for a seamless audio experience. It was called the Energy Tube. Deciwood was launched in 2018, as the founders combined innovative tech with state-of-the-art product design to create affordable Bluetooth speakers that made audio more appealing.
The Delhi-based D2C brand currently offers Bluetooth speakers, wired earphones and wireless earbuds, with prices varying between INR 999 and INR 4,999. The startup’s flagship is Deciwood Unplugged, a speaker with a 4,500 mAH battery that supports both Bluetooth and Aux for maximum convenience. In addition, one can personalise a Deciwood device by getting their names or favourite quotes embossed.
Deciwood claims to have sold its products to more than 15K customers through its website and major marketplaces. The brand is targeting a revenue run rate of INR 6 Cr in FY23 and aims to hit INR 100 Cr by 2025 – a 16x jump, on the back of new product lines, including soundbar speakers, headphones and other audio accessories.
eské
How Luxury Leather Brand eské’s ‘Quick’ Format Aims To Drive Price Moderation, 6x Revenue Growth
As the Indian economy saw a significant rise in discretionary spending in the past years, new brands emerged to meet the growing demand for luxe lifestyle products at home and abroad. Traditionally, luxury leather goods are one of the most coveted categories in India, and a Statista report says that the revenue from this segment is likely to touch $1.37 Bn in 2022.
Keeping in mind the newfound opportunities and the fact that the country has been a leading exporter in this space for decades, Shivam Khanna launched eské in 2016 as a global lifestyle brand. But there has been a difference. Unlike the legacy players, the startup has been built on an agile C2M (consumer-to-manufacturer) model focussing on global distribution, thus cutting out intermediaries and bridging the gap between cost and pricing for the benefit of its 63K+ user base.
“For far too long, our industry has been sticking to its archaic distribution model and been a product exporter and brand importer. But we will change that,” said Khanna.
The startup’s built-in ‘quick format’ supports this mission. With a lower minimum order quantity or MOQ in place, the brand can quickly sync with trending styles and sell faster. This results in a shorter revenue cycle and more ready capital for growth, thus driving down the retail price to $199-249 from $600-800. The company claims to be clocking more than 75% of the gross margin despite the low pricing.
Although 70% of eské’s sales come from its website, the luxury leather brand aims to build its omnichannel presence by selling on marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart and through exclusive outlets.
The startup will launch its global website by December this year and work on $100 Mn revenue by FY26 with a 15% EBITDA margin.
EyeMyEye
Online Eyewear Brand EyeMyEye Targets 200 Offline Stores, INR 750 Cr In Revenue
Millions of Indians suffer from eye conditions due to nutritional issues or ailments like cataract, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, dry eye and other congenital disorders. According to the National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB), the country has around 12 Mn people with visual impairment, while the worldwide total is about 39 Mn. However, nearly 75% of the cases of total blindness are preventable if timely measures are taken.
While organising an eye testing camp at his housing society, Ganesh Iyer, a professional with 16 years of experience across retail, travel and ecommerce sectors, realised that his household help needed eyeglasses but could not afford them. It was not an isolated case, though. Most Indians require affordable eye care and need to buy prescription glasses and other related products with confidence. That was how the eyewear brand EyeMyEye was launched in 2021.
The Gurugram-based D2C startup has developed a wide range of products, including prescription glasses, sunglasses (regular and prescription), computer glasses and contact lenses. It claims to have served nearly 1.2 Mn customers via its website and apps. Additionally, EyeMyEye is looking to scale up its exclusive subscription and rewards programme Blink to 1.5 Mn users from around 450K by the end of 2022.
According to Iyer, the brand is working on an omnichannel model and will set up 200 brick-and-mortar stores by 2025 while increasing its online reach to 1,000+ cities. It also aims to push the revenue run rate to INR 750 Cr by that time from INR 140 Cr in FY23.
Flo Mattress
Flo Is Innovating Mattress Tech To Improve Sleep Quality, Hit INR 100 Cr Revenue
Indians rarely get their eight-hour quota of sleep due to stressful work culture, a sedentary lifestyle and late-night use of smartphones, laptops or TVs that affect the normal sleep cycle. While these issues can be dealt with by making suitable lifestyle changes, another critical factor is finding the right mattress that can improve sleep quality and reduce the physical and mental disorders caused by sleep deprivation.
Gaurav Zatakia had the right expertise in the mattress department as he was a B2B supplier for 10 years and catered to the country’s leading hotels and resorts. But he started mulling over a retail business and affordable pricing as patrons of those hotels often asked him where they could find similar products to get a good night’s sleep at home. Eventually, Zatakia adopted a D2C model as removing the intermediaries helped him keep the prices low, and Flo Mattress was launched in 2018.
The Mumbai-based startup has introduced an innovative range, focussing on varied (and adjustable) firmness, better body support/spinal alignment and optimised surfaces for temperature control. Its flagship products like Ergo
and 3D Air-Flow use intelligent technology, and the company offers a 100-night risk-free trial and a 10-year warranty on all its products.
The brand has served a user base of more than 1 lakh via its website and ecommerce marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart. It plans to develop a few more innovative products in FY23 that will improve people’s sleep and drive its revenue run rate to INR 30 Cr or so. Flo also eyes INR 100 Cr in revenue by 2025 as it changes how people sleep by mastering modern sleep systems.
Lil’Goodness
How Lil’Goodness Aims To Become India’s #1 Nutrition Startup Brand For Kids And Teens
Young people tend to feel peckish many times a day, but their favourite snacks often turn out to be unhealthy, sugary or fried products. In fact, tasty snacks which contain wholesome nutrition without costing a bomb are rare finds in the market. Aware of the various challenges when it comes to healthy snacking, Harshavardhan S and Damanbir Singh set up Lil’Goodness in 2020.
The Bengaluru-based D2C brand offers a niche range of healthy snacks crafted with care by fathers passionate about nutrition and food tech. These include prebiotic chocolate and milkshakes for gut health, snacks made of the super grain teff and food supplements like B12 jaggery (containing vitamin B12).
Online sales through its website, marketplaces and instant grocery channels account for 75% of its revenue, and 25% comes from offline retail, primarily through general trade and convenience outlets.
Lil’Goodness claims to have served 2.4 Lakh online consumers and nearly 3 Lakh offline, achieving a gross revenue run rate of INR 1 Cr in April 2022, up 4x in nine months. It has a revenue run rate of $1.3 Mn for FY23 and plans to scale up its operations 10x in the next 12 months by establishing the brand as the preferred choice for fun, daily snacking for families with kids. The company will aim to reach INR 500 Cr in revenue by 2025 and position itself as the #1 nutrition startup brand for kids and teens, according to Harshavardhan.
Rozana.in
How Rozana.in Is Building Affordable Last-Mile Delivery For Rural India, Targeting 200-300 Mn Users
Consumers from Bharat (read rural and semi-rural India) still lag behind their metro peers when it comes to digital commerce and quick and convenient product deployment. Interestingly, large legacy brands often fail to design ‘assisted ecommerce models’ and last-mile logistics for remote areas. But Ankur Dahiya and three other founders were determined to bridge the commerce and convenience gap to underline Bharat’s massive presence and potential. Rozana.in, a P2P rural ecommerce platform, was the outcome of this endeavour.
The Delhi-based firm looks to lead a consumer revolution by creating a cost-effective last-mile ecosystem for India’s underserved population. To begin with, Rozana uses AI and big data analytics for consumer insights and market demand. It also leverages a hyperlocal delivery model to ease the lives of rural customers. The platform keeps a minimal inventory and procures all orders directly from the brands. And its partners/peers deliver these orders as and when they arrive to ensure end-to-end asset-light operations.
The company is eyeing a revenue run rate of INR 550 Cr in FY23. In addition, it is aggressively working on a road map to onboard 200-300 Mn customers in the next two to three years as it diversifies its product portfolio and caters to the growing aspirations of rural India.
TagZ Foods
TagZ Aims To ‘Unjunk’ India’s Snacking Industry, Eyes An INR 1,000 Cr Brand
Healthy snacking might not have been the hottest trend in pre-Covid India. But the consumer mindset has undergone a tectonic shift in the past few years, and people have grown more health-conscious. The crux lies elsewhere. India is still a supply-constrained market, and few companies prioritise consumer health.
“We found it appalling that our urban Gen Z did not have anything fit to replace fried, fatty snacks while other countries were years ahead in food tech innovation. We wanted to change that,” said Anish Basu Roy, cofounder and CEO of TagZ Foods.
Set up in 2019, the Bengaluru-based D2C snack brand offers an extensive range of healthy but tasty chips, dips, cookies and chocolates such as the innovative Popped potato chips with 50% less fat and dark chocolate C!g@rZ that contains the finest quality cocoa from Ghana.
The brand has a prominent omnichannel presence. Its products are available on its website, multiple ecommerce platforms, hyperlocal channels (Swiggy Instamart, Dunzo, BigBasket, Blinkit and more) and retail chains like Godrej Nature’s Basket and Shell Select.
It has recently crossed the sales milestone of 50 Lakh units and is targeting an ARR of INR 100 Cr for FY23. As TagZ works relentlessly to emerge as the largest premium snack brand across categories, Roy believes there is a clear opportunity to build an INR 1,000 Cr company by 2025.
TrueFan
How TrueFan Uses Content Tech To Bring Fans Closer To Celebs, Eyes INR 1,000 Cr In Revenue
It is no secret that Indians love their celebrities to the point of obsession, but there are few opportunities to connect with them in real life. Take, for instance, how Nimish Goel, a diehard fan of ace Indian cricketer Virat Kohli, gatecrashed cricketer Rohit Sharma’s wedding to meet his idol. Realising he is not the only one to give in to this fan frenzy, Goel, along with Nevaid Aggarwal and Devender Bindal, started TrueFan, which aims to democratise celebrity access and help fans connect with their favourite celebrities meaningfully.
Spearheading innovation in the content space, TrueFan enables 2 Mn users to receive personalised video messages from A-list celebrities like Ranveer Singh, Kareena Kapoor and others. However, users need to take part in simple quizzes regarding these celebrities before they can avail of this opportunity.
Powered by AI, the startup claims to provide unmatched user experience and has delivered more than 50,000 video messages at a nominal cost. It aims to grow 10x and feature 30 celebrities from cricket, Bollywood, regional cinema, OTT, music and other segments while targeting annual recurring revenue of INR 10 Cr for FY23.
According to Goel, TrueFan will introduce exclusive content, merchandise/NFTs, and AR/VR-based products, feature 100+ top celebrities and reach out to 100 Mn users by 2025. It will also build a direct distribution channel for its fans and monetise it to earn INR 1,000 Cr in revenue.
TruNativ
How TruNativ Aims To Simplify Nutrition For 100 Mn Indian Families
Most people tend to ignore all sorts of nutrition gaps and gorge on ready-to-eat junk food as time is a scarce resource in an always-on, fast-paced digital era. Of course, Big Pharma and FMCG players have stepped in with a massive range of nutraceuticals to try and plug these gaps. But they mostly rely on standard formulations instead of cutting-edge R&D and consumer-health-first product policies.
A personal experience regarding a not-so-effective nutraceutical led Mamta Malhotra and Pranav Malhotra to rethink the product landscape. TruNativ was set up in 2020 to support innovation and develop products from natural resources to help Indian families deal with nutritional gaps.
The Mumbai-based D2C brand offers a wide range of products to help households fulfil their nutritional needs, including its flagship products – EveryDay Protein and EveryDay Fiber to meet their protein & fiber needs in a convenient yet hassle-free format.
It claims a user base of 25K and has adopted an omnichannel strategy for seamless growth. Besides its dedicated website, its products are available on ecommerce marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart, and it also caters to the HORECA segment.
TruNativ also became the fastest startup to clock FMCG funding in the nutraceutical space as Emami picked up a 19% equity stake after 10 months of active operations. It is looking at a $2 Mn revenue run rate for FY23.
The brand has recently signed actor Kareena Kapoor Khan as its brand ambassador and wants to scale up as a pan-India consumer brand synonymous with health, wellness and nutrition. By 2025, it aims to simplify all nutritional issues for 100 Mn Indian families.
Zingavita
How Zingavita Is Leveraging Ayurveda To Bridge The Nutritional Gap
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a perceptible shift in consumer mindset, and many Indian families are now turning to supplements/nutraceuticals to address nutritional gaps or lifestyle disorders.
Like all parents, Sachin Goel was worried about his child’s picky eating and lack of nutrition. But when the kid fancied nutritious gummies from Europe, he soon realised that this could solve the problem for many parents whose kids are fussy about conventional meals. To put the concept into practice, Goel left his corporate job and launched the nutrition startup Zingavita in 2019.
Since then, the Chandigarh-based D2C brand has created a range of differentiated nutritional products with FSSAI-approved formulations and ensures the required dosage of vitamins and minerals as per the recommended dietary allowance or RDA. Zingavita claims that all its products are gluten-, soy- and GMO-free and manufactured in FSSAI facilities with GMP certification.
The digital-first brand sells its nutraceuticals directly to its user base of more than 1 Lakh through online marketplaces (Amazon, Flipkart, Nykaa, JioMart and more) and the company website. After hitting a monthly run rate of INR 50 lakh in May 2022, the startup eyes INR 1.5 Cr in revenue by March 2023. Zingavita aims to raise pre-series A funding by April 2023, while the company targets an Annual Recurring Revenue of INR 30 Cr for FY23 and INR 100 Cr by 2025.
Additionally, Goel hopes to launch a range of modern ayurvedic supplements under the ZINGAVEDA brand (trademark registered), especially for the overseas market.
Update | 31 August 2022, 8:40 PM
The Revenue Run Rate amount for RAS Luxury Oils has been removed upon the company’s request.
Update | 3 September 2022, 6:00 PM
ALMO’s Revenue Run Rate for FY23 has been updated to reflect the latest numbers.
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