Read full article By Prabhjeet Bhatia @ Entrepreneur Photo Credit: Slurrp Farm
Gurugram-based startup Slurrp Farm that offers healthy snacks and mealtime options for children and fitness-oriented families—said on Wednesday to have raised $2 million in a Series A round from Fireside Ventures, a multi-stage venture fund that invests across the early growth stages of the business with a focus on consumer brands.
The consumer food establishment plans to deploy the funds raised for product innovation, marketing, and increasing inventory to cater to the increasing demand. The brand is also looking to strengthen its team and fortify its D2C channel and is currently available in over 600 retail stores and online grocery shopping portals across India, Singapore, and UAE.
The company claims to be passionate about growing with conscious capitalism at the heart of its endeavors and making products that are good for the consumer that is nutrition-dense, good for the farmer, and good for the planet that is biodiverse.
“Slurrp Farm is at the forefront of the healthy grain movement. The desire for healthier, less refined alternatives to wheat has fueled the rediscovery of ancient grains. Health and wellness have gained an added focus during the pandemic. We are thrilled to invest in an innovative company like Slurrp Farm which is starting this revolution with young children who are always the first agents of change,” stated Kanwaljit Singh, founder and managing partner, Fireside Ventures.
The startup maintains that they have the vision to take Indian millets to global shelves. The brand is working on product innovation with their research and development (R&D) team, nutritionists, and pediatricians, to launch 5 more stock-keeping units (SKUs) in the coming months, taking the existing portfolio to 30 SKUs in all.
The shift in consumer behavior to a healthier lifestyle helped the company grab shelf and mind space during the pandemic. It has registered a threefold growth from February 2020 to date. The brand today sells around 1,00,000 units to approximately 40,000 customers a month, said a statement in the report released by the company.
“We wanted to bring onboard institutional investors who truly understand the need for inflection and real change in the health food market. We have been in touch with Fireside since the very inception of our journey and this is the right time in our journey for us to seek growth capital. They have the DNA, tremendous insight, and proven history to help grow challenger FMCG brands like us. We are genuinely excited to have Kanwal as our board member and look forward to closely working with him as we grow this company,” said Slurrp Farm co-founders Shauravi Malik and Meghana Narayan, in a joint statement.
The startup’s annual recurring revenue (ARR) has grown 300 per cent during the last 6 months and they are looking to grow at the same rate to an ARR of $5-6 million in the next 12 months.
In June 2018, Slurrp Farm has said to have raised $1 million in a pre-Series A round with key investors including Info Edge, Central Square Foundation, FabIndia, OYO, Forest Essentials, CDC, Apollo Capital, Apax Partners, Prop Tiger, Facebook, MoonRiver and Relco.
