Ayurvedic food brand Kapiva Ayurveda raises $2.5M in a fresh funding round

Mumbai-based wellness food startup Kapiva Ayurveda will use the funds to build brand awareness and scale its distribution presence.

Kapiva Ayurveda, a fast-growing Ayurvedic food brand, has raised $2.5 million in its first round of institutional funding. The round was led by Fireside Ventures with participation from Mohandas Pai’s Family Office, Madhu Kela, and GITS Foods.

The startup, which makes high quality traditional Indian foods such as herbal juices, ghee, and honey, will use the funds to scale its distribution presence and build brand awareness.

Kapiva Ayurveda, founded by Baidyanath Group scion Ameve Sharma and ex-Bain Capital investor Shrey Badhani, has a portfolio of 40-plus Ayurvedic food products. The startup has grown rapidly and has a presence in 4,000 outlets in 10 cities across India. Products are also available across all major online channels such as Amazon and Big Basket. The brand is now available in both online and offline channels in the US.

“We have huge headroom for growth since less than 5 percent 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,” says Co-founder Ameve Sharma.

“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,” Ameve added.

Focus on top cities

Kapiva Ayurveda has entered offline channels in top cities through traditional retail and modern trade outlets such as Reliance Retail and Nature’s Basket. The brand now aims to go deeper in its focus markets and increase store presence and density in the top cities while also scaling internationally.

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.”

The co-founders of Kapiva say they are very “excited to have got Fireside Ventures on our side” due to their enviable track record of working with some of India’s most iconic young brands. “The best part of the collaboration is that they have brought to the table insightful FMCG experience along with the capital they have infused,” Ameve says.

In 2017, Kapiva Ayurveda raised approximately Rs 4.4 crore from a group of angel investors.