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Shaka Harry bags fund infusion of $2 mn to expand reach in India and abroad
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Wednesday, 20 July, 2022, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Nandita Vijay, Bengaluru
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Shaka Harry by Liberate Foods has received a fund infusion of $2 million to expand market reach in India and abroad. The company, which has an assortment of plant-based products, is increasing points of distribution and widening the product portfolio and brand awareness.
The investments came in from Better Bite Ventures, Blur Horizon, and Panthera Peak along with Dexler Holdings , Chef Manu Chandra besides family offices and angel investors.
Anand Nagarajan, co-founder, Shaka Harry, said that products were researched and developed to cater to the Indian palate and manufactured at its in-house manufacturing facility. It has also invested at the India Food Park in Tumkur in Karnataka. At the moment, the price of the products were on par with the meat version and price parity would start kicking in based on volumes driven by higher market acceptance.
Positioned as a healthy and tasty meat alternative, the range of products are available across Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Gurgaon. Speaking to F&B News at the press conclave, Nagarajan said current fastest growing markets are seen to be Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and the international foray is planned for end of this year or early next year. The range covering snackables and meal accompaniments has a distinct advantage of proprietary taste and flavour solutions and the brand’s partnership with Chef Chandra, one of India's top chefs to compete in the fast growing Indian market.
“We are already present across 500 outlets in the country and is the best performing brand in the online stores. Winning a consumer segment in the food space needs a well-designed product range, deep expertise in taste and flavour and consistent customer experience,” he noted.
Sandeep Devgan, co-founder, Shaka Harry, stated, “Plant-based meats have a huge scope of acceptability in India, particularly among the growing flexitarian population. Yet not many brands have been able to make a mark due to the inability to replicate real meaty tastes in vegetarian profiles. We have been able to offer Indian consumers a first-of-its-kind ‘just-like-chicken’ & ‘just-like mutton experience’ minus the guilt.”
The company has a monthly customer base of 25,000. The monthly growth expected for the next few quarters is around 20 to 30%. Shaka Harry aims at aggressive growth over the next five years.
Simon Newstead, founding partner, Better Bite Ventures, said, “This is our first investment in India and as an Asian alt-protein fund, we are looking at early-stage start-ups creating a sustainable food system.”
Chiming in with Newstead, Bjoern Witte, CEO, Blue Horizon, said, “While we are also very excited about our first investment in India, our surveys with BCG, indicated that taste, nutritional value and health aspects rank highest when considering to increase the consumption of alternative proteins.”
Meanwhile, Nikhil Bhandarkar, founding partner & CEO, Panthera Peak Ventures, stated, “The growth of plant-based meat sector in India, coupled with the Direct-to-Consumer boom underscore a massive potential for the Shaka Harry range of products.”
Varun Deshpande, managing director, Good Food Institute India, said, "Indian smart protein companies continue to lag far behind, remaining at a tiny fraction of the $11 billion invested globally over the last decade. Here Shaka Harry's fundraise is a mark of the growing momentum in the Indian smart protein sector."
Chef Chandra stated, “The need of the hour is clean labelled and delicious alternatives. The future is plant based, start now.”
India is a base for plant-based meat start-ups, with a large population of non-vegetarians looking to cut down their meat consumption due to a combination of concerns like sustainability and health. Indian consumers are extremely likely to purchase plant-based as whom are currently ‘early adopters’ of plant-based meat compared favourably with the US and China.
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