Gluten-free, low-carb and ketogenic food. Sounds like something only an elite and small section of the Indian society would have access to. To make wellness and nutrition accessible to a wider demographic, Wellversed Health was launched in Gurugram in 2018. Aanan Khurma while pursuing his research in clinical nutrition wanted to span health to a maximum number of people.
To help him do this, Industrial Designer Aditya Seth and Stanford alumni Ripunjay Chachan joined him. Seth helped design specialized food production equipment whereas Chachan lead their business operations. They have a tech-based micro-manufacturing structure that allows more SKUs at lower volumes.
The venture started in ketogenic and diabetes categories and have now scaled to intermittent fasting, vegan diet and gluten-free categories. In 2019, they saw 250x growth. In 2021-22, they expect to grow 100% in terms of revenue. The nutrition-based healthcare startup was incubated at Huddle and then in 2018 received funding from Govind Rajan of Freecharge.
Since then it has seen investment from Alok Mittal of Canaan Partners, Tejinderpal Miglani of Indiabulls, Shankar Narayanan of Sanaka Capital, Amit Choudhary of Dawaa Dost, Jagjit Khurma of Cuelearn, Rohit Chanana of Sarcha Advisors and Sanil Sachar of Huddle.
In 2020, Yuvraj Singh invested in this venture at a valuation close to Rs 100 crore. Singh would also be the brand ambassador for the company.
Last year in September, Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd. acquired a 25% stake in Wellversed. Jubilant is behind master franchises like Domino's Pizza and Dunkin Donuts. Jubilant would significantly contribute towards Wellversed’s expansion into geographies and into a brand.
Every day more than 3000 children below the age of 5 die in India due to malnutrition and deficiencies of Vitamin A, iron, iodine, zinc and folic acid. Will Wellversed be able to spread the awareness and nutrition of good food to millions of Indians?