Satvika Bio-Foods India Pvt Ltd, which runs an e-commerce venture for organic food under Naturally Yours, has raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from serial entrepreneur-turned-investor Sanjay Mehta.
The company will use the capital mainly to expand its product range. “A part of the money will also be used to expand the core and the support team as we plan to achieve a run rate of 10,000-15,000 orders per month in the next 12-24 months,†said founder Vinod Kumar.
The company sells under its own brand, unlike some of its peers who also sell third-party branded products. It has more than 100 products under its brand name and also sells on other e-commerce portals such as Amazon, Flipkart, ShopClues, Healthkart and Pepperfry. The firm plans to launch 70-100 new products over the next 12-24 months.
Kumar, a Cardiff University alumnus who had earlier worked with Global InnovSource Solutions Pvt. Ltd and CVM Maintenance Ltd, claims that Naturally Yours clocks more than 2,000 orders through Amazon every month and that this is increasing by 30-40 per cent month on month.
Launched in 2010 by Kumar and his wife Priya Prakash, the firm offers products in 14 categories, including rice and millet, pastas, organic gifting, seeds and nuts and ayurvedic products.
Mehta said that demand for organic food is growing exponentially and that the company's target audience is health-conscious younger generation in urban areas. Kumar estimated that India's organic food market is growing at a compound annual pace of 30 per cent and is set to touch $1 billion this year.
Naturally Yours joins a number of organic food suppliers and marketplaces to raise funding. In July, Delhi-based Pavitra Retail Pvt Ltd, which runs an e-commerce marketplace for organic products JoybyNature, had secured $1 million in a pre-Series A round of funding from Mumbai Angels, Contrarian Vriddhi Fund and a bunch of wealthy individuals.
Organicshop.in, an online marketplace for organic products, raised Rs 30 lakh ($49,370) in angel funding from Rajasthan Angel Investor Network two years ago. Prior to that, Freemont Partners invested in Natural Mantra, an online portal owned by Happy Earth Lifestyle Solutions Pvt Ltd.
Earlier this year, Rajasthan-based organic foods producer Natureland Organic Foods Pvt Ltd raised an undisclosed amount from SIDBI Venture Capital’s Samridhi Fund. Last year, organic food company Parvata raised $50,000 from Ahmedabad-based Last Mile Accelerator.
In 2013, Bangalore-based Safe Harvest Pvt Ltd, which procures organic produce from farmers and sells it directly to retail customers, had secured about $250,000 from Delhi-based early-stage investor Palaash Ventures and a few other investors, including Ford Foundation’s South Asia representative Ganesan Balachander.
