Healthy food brand The Whole Truth (TWT), on Monday said it has raised $15 million in Series B funding round led by Sequoia Capital India.
TWT will use the capital to scale up the brand’s in-house manufacturing capacity, hire talent, and grow its retail distribution, it said in a statement.
Bengaluru-based TWT was founded in 2019 by Shashank Mehta, a former marketeer at consumer goods company Unilever. The brand claims to have a portfolio of clean-label energy bars, nut butters, chocolates and muesli without sugar and preservatives, which it sells through marketplaces, quick commerce platforms and retail stores.
“With this new fundraise, we’ll continue to innovate and enter more categories. We’ll continue to grow distribution and bring our existing products to more consumers,” said Mehta.
The latest round comes a year and half after the brand raised $6 million in Series A in July 2021. Since then, the company said it has grown 7X, launched products and grown its physical distribution to over 10 cities.
Bakery chef and chocolatier Rachna Aggarwal leads its product development. The company relies on its proprietary R&D and in-house manufacturing to eliminate hidden sugars, artificial flavours, and harmful preservatives from its food products, listing all its ingredients that go into its food.
“We have been working with Shashank, Rachna, and team for over a year and a half now and have been very impressed with their product innovation engine, marketing acumen, and overall quality of execution,” said Abhishek Mohan, principal at Sequoia India.
It is also backed by marquee angels including Zerodha’s Nithin Kamath, Swiggy’s Sriharsha Majety and Rebel Foods’ Jaydeep Burman.
“The potential of this brand lies in its simplicity and universality - that consumers hate being lied to,” said Manu Chandra, founder and managing partner at Sauce.vc. “We backed Shashank when he had just this thought and a protein bar mock-up and it’s gratifying to see it become a loved food brand.”
