Journey of Anveya - Safe Skin & Haircare For Everybody

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Anveya focuses on beauty, personal care, and wellness products which have a daily impact on lives and the planet. Its products promise purity, combined with the wisdom of nature, and compete and beat their synthetic counterparts on results. The concept of Anveya, an online brand providing a range of products for skincare and haircare was born in the year 2018 out of a desire to give Indian consumers natural beauty products that are formulated using deep nature technology and solve real beauty concerns.

StartupTalky interviewed Mr. Vivek Singh (Co-founder & CEO of Anveya Living) to get insights on the journey and growth hacks of the startup. In this article you'll discover how Anveya started, its business model, products, marketing strategy and more.

Anveya - Company Highlights

Anveya - About
Journey of Anveya - How it Started
Anveya - Products and USP
Anveya - Founders and Team
Anveya - Name, Tagline and Logo
Anveya - Mission and Vision
Anveya - Business Model and Revenue Model
Anveya - Launch and Marketing Strategy
Anveya - Challenges Faced
Anveya - Funding and Investors
Anveya - Competitors
Anveya - Future Plans

Anveya - About

Anveya stands for harmony. It drives awareness and provides result-driven product choices for healthy and conscious living. Anveya focuses on beauty, personal care, and wellness products which have a daily impact on lives and the planet. Its products promise purity, combined with the wisdom of nature, and compete and beat their synthetic counterparts on results.

The Anveya range started in 2019 with the purest gifts from nature - pure essential oil extracts and cold-pressed beauty oils. It launched its formulated range in early 2020. By the end of 2020, the startup also launched its second brand ThriveCo, a treatment-based results-driven range solving some of the deepest hair and skin problems of the consumers. All this while the startup has listened to its customers, about what they need next and that has been the basis of most of its innovations.

"We invest time, resources, and energy in clean products and technology, to promote and develop the most results-driven, cutting-edge formulations for your beauty and personal care needs" says Vivek Singh, Co-founder & CEO, Anveya.

Journey of Anveya - How it Started

The company was founded by Vivek Singh and Saurav Patnaik in the year 2018 and is based out of Bangalore.

Vivek noticed that his wife stocked up on her curly hair products whenever she or other friends traveled abroad. She insisted that there were no Indian brands that matched the quality of what was available internationally. As he and Saurav spoke to more friends and family, they realized that this behavior was common across beauty products. They kept hearing that even the best Indian brands do not match the standard of international brands. They began digging into this only to realize that that cutting-edge deep work has been happening in research labs all across the world. But those innovations take too much time to reach the country if they do at all. This was the moment that they decided to create a brand that beats international brands in product quality and customer love.

The concept of Anveya, an online brand providing a range of products for skincare and haircare was born in the year 2018 out of a desire to give Indian consumers natural beauty products that are formulated using deep nature technology and solve real beauty concerns. It’s a premium beauty brand that has come a long way with a host of skincare and haircare products. The main focus of the brand is to provide personal care and wellness categories that have a daily impact on people's lives and the planet.

Anveya began with an honest vision and modest resources. The product was at the core of the founders’ thoughts and so, key early investments were done on sourcing and R&D. The team decided to reach consumers directly through the internet, as that would help them talk transparently and they hoped that the consumers would reciprocate. This meant the team didn't have to invest in building all-India distribution. Anveya started with operating from a single warehouse, a small team, and a strong will to make a difference. Its early investments came from the founders’ own savings and from friends and family.

The internet helped the startup a lot, the team wanted to have an open channel of communication with the customers, which it got with the grace of the internet. This enabled them to communicate transparently with others and discuss the solutions after hearing others' needs and feedback. This was a very different approach from the traditional way of celebrity-showcasing, powered by a big budget that the other brands have been taking. Lastly, as an online-first brand, they wanted to leverage the internet and all its strengths against the massive offline distribution strength that traditionally was being used by beauty and personal care brands.

Anveya - Products and USP

Anveya is a premium brand and the founders take pride in being able to offer the cleanest and effective products for skin and hair care. These products target some of the biggest hair & skin concerns like dryness, damage, frizz, breakage, hair fall, scalp health, and hair growth.

Anveya's range comprises 45 premium quality products spread across the categories of Hair Care, Skincare, Cold-Pressed Oils, and Essential Oils. Its formulated products have been created in partnership with some of the most advanced labs across the world that work on natural active ingredients and with some of the top formulators and manufacturers in the country. These products are not only the best-in-class formulations, but also beat their synthetic counterparts on results. Anveya’s range of pure natural essential oils and organic cold-pressed oils includes some of the finest beauty and wellness gifts that come straight from nature, with an obsession with the origin, their purity, and their certificates of analysis. Its products, pricing, and positioning are premium, where the team is bringing international quality products to their consumers, made in India, at Indian prices.

In the year 2020, the founders also launched their second brand ThriveCo, a treatment-based range solving some of the deepest hair and skin problems of its consumers. All this while they have listened to their customers, about what they need next and that has been the basis of most of its innovations.

Anveya - Founders and Team

Anveya Living Private Limited has been co-founded by Vivek Singh (CEO) & Saurav Patnaik (COO). Vivek and Saurav have worked together since 2008 when Vivek used to head digital marketing for HT Media’s internet arm and Saurav used to run his marketing technology company Kenscio. After finishing their last assignments, the two came together in 2018 to co-found Anveya.

Vivek Singh, Co-founder & CEO

As someone who grew up in a small-town middle-class family with agricultural roots, Vivek witnessed how lifestyle evolved from being in complete harmony with nature to devaluing nature, and with it, ourselves. He also realized that the beauty industry’s R&A was resulting in more in the destruction of our relationship with nature rather than in nurturing that relationship. Anveya is his attempt to find a common ground between customer needs, what the planet needs, the power of nature, and use science and technology to bring all these together. Before his role as the Co-founder & CEO of Anveya, Vivek led the emergence of FirstCry, the country's leading baby & kids brand, as their SVP Marketing. He has also held marketing & business responsibilities for Hindustan Times Media’s internet businesses.

Vivek is a graduate of IIT (BHU) Varanasi and a post-graduate from IIM Lucknow. He spends his leisure time sketching and painting, and reading about evolution and the human mind. He is also the protagonist of a non-fiction book, Dare Eat That (Penguin RandomHouse India) which chronicles his attempt to experiment with and taste unique cuisines from around the world.

Saurav Patnaik, Co-founder & COO

Saurav is a serial entrepreneur with multiple successful companies built in the space of technology and advertising serving more than 200 Enterprises. On one of his technology chasing tours to Israel, he accidentally met entrepreneurs who were using high-tech stem cell technology to create potent personal care products. The focus was on results while keeping nasty chemicals away. While all these products & innovations were interesting and exciting, the realization also seeped in that Indian customers might not find access to these technologies at all.

Especially in a market where people are being handed beaten down versions/formulations of the products at rock bottom prices with the help of celebrities and false promises, the people deserved more. Thus began Saurav’s incessant and obsessive search for the best ingredients, technologies, and formulators across the world. As the Co-founder & COO for Anveya, Saurav is bridging the gap by making top-notch products and formulations available to Indian customers.

Anveya is a small and robust team of about 20 people who love doing great work together, and this has helped them grow as people and businesses.

Anveya - Name, Tagline and Logo

Anveya comes from the root word "anvaya", which means harmony. The team here is inspired by how everything works so harmoniously in nature, how everything is beautifully balanced. They wanted to stand the harmony between nature, ourselves, and the products that all use.

The two leaves in its brand logo signify life, balance, and freshness. It reminds them that Anveya's products have to stay true to the harmony that Nature inspires them to have.

Anveya - Mission and Vision

Anveya Living as a company, is propelled with the vision of closing the large gap that exists between the much-coveted international beauty brands and the other beauty offerings that are there in the Indian market.

According to a statement by Co-founder and CEO Vivek Singh, creating high-quality products is at the core of the vision of Anveya.

Anveya - Business Model and Revenue Model

Anveya is a direct-to-consumer brand (D2C). It works on and drives excellence at all steps of its consumer offering - right from the research and formulations, to sourcing of raw materials and tightly controlled manufacturing processes, warehousing and operations, marketing, eCommerce, and customer service.

Speaking on the business model of the company, Vivek Singh said, “The D2C movement was a disruption for the consumer industry. We're taking it to another level by working to disrupt the D2C segment itself, by breaking some of the long-standing assumptions in the traditional FMCG and D2C industry. And in the process, customers are loving our honest, uncompromising and straight-talking brands.”

Anveya's products are directly available for the customer at all points - whether it’s about telling them about the brand and product offerings, servicing customer orders, or answering questions. This helps it stay true to customer expectations and own the effectiveness that its products bring into their lives. The startup runs its own eCommerce stores at anveya.com and thriveco.in and directly manages its presence on marketplaces like amazon.in and flipkart.com without the involvement of any mediators or resellers. It operates its own warehouse and directly deals with logistics to ensure a high-quality seamless experience for the customers.

Now known as a major player in the D2C industry, it was quite early when Anveya decided to stick to the multi-brand strategy. The first brand of Anveya Living was named Anveya, which was founded in early 2019 and is designed as a premium beauty brand that offers hair and skincare solutions with the help of natural active ingredients that it uses. ThriveCo is the second brand launched by Anveya in 2020, with an aim to provide solutions for deep skin and hair-related causes. Both the brands are described as "clean labels", which do not support the use of parabens or sulfates and stand as 100% transparent about the ingredients they use. Anveya Living also launched Anveya Curls, which is one of the first ranges that are solely dedicated to curly hair, which is something that is often overlooked by the traditional market.  

A major portion of Anveya's revenues come from its own websites anveya.com and thriveco.in. It also maintains an ingredient directory on its own stores where the customers can read about all the ingredients that the product used. It is currently planning to create a direct channel with the customers in the times upcoming.  

Anveya - Launch and Marketing Strategy

Anveya's very first customers, even before its public launch, were the founders' very supportive friends. They helped the team to evaluate the thoughts, provide key inputs, test the prototypes, and spread the word.

At the start, the startup did not have an eCommerce presence of its own. Anveya launched its products on Amazon.in and then on Flipkart.com. These marketplaces have empowered brands and startups phenomenally. They are a great way for a young brand to reach potential customers. They have not only built fantastic shopping fronts for the customers but have also built a very robust and accessible backend for the brands. The team at Anveya utilized its advertising platforms to show its products and gain the first few customers. It gives young startups an opportunity to enter the same level playing field that the big established businesses and brands operate in.

Since the beginning, the team has been focussing on content. Even before Anveya's products were launched, they started witnessing the audience reading its helpful articles. Even on the products, the startup provides a lot of details, literature, and documentation about the product, ingredients, what it does and what’s the best way to achieve your goals with the product and beyond.

Advertising on Facebook, Instagram, Google, and other digital marketing channels is a powerful way for internet first brands to find new customers.

"Lastly, if you do good work, a lot of repeat and word of mouth builds. We have been fortunate to see a lot of brand searches, repeating orders, and referrals too" Vivek added.

Anveya's curly hair campaigns have had great success. The team wanted to provide a solution for people with curly hair – a customer segment that has largely been ignored by established brands and businesses. The startup's message to ‘Embrace Your Curls’ hit a chord with the audience, as most other brands have always catered to straight hair only and some have even made curly hair people feel bad about their hair.

Anveya - Challenges Faced

Bringing some of the world's best quality products to Indian consumers had several challenges. Firstly, the Indian consumer has historically been served with much poorer quality products than some of the international counterparts. Ingredients that have been rejected by several countries are still being served here. When this was the norm, the founders decided to do it differently. They wanted to make sure that they get the best and most effective products possible in the entire world.

Secondly, and leading from the first challenge, was a consumer perception that Indian products don't work as well as some of the international brands do. This is a perception the team at Anveya has changed with what they bring to their customers.

Thirdly, and the internet medium helped them a great deal here, the startup wanted to have an open channel of communication with the customers. This enabled the team to communicate transparently to customers about Anveya's solutions and to hear from them their needs and their feedback. This was a very different approach from the celebrity-showcasing, big-budget approach the traditional brands have been taking.

Lastly, as an online-first brand, Anveya wanted to leverage the internet and all its strengths against the massive offline distribution strength that traditionally was being used by beauty and personal care brands.

Anveya - Funding and Investors

Anveya initially raised modest but sufficing investments from friends and family, including some respected angel investment names in the country. The company has raised its maiden funding (Seed) round on February 8, 2022, where it has raised $80 mn from Rukam Capital. These funds would be used by the company for further research and development. Furthermore, it is also planning to foray into new categories and markets along with building a team that would help it do so.

The startup drives business health on both fronts - growth and economics. The team here focuses on having customer traction-driven growth and so far both of its brands have grown well on the back of fantastic products, transparent communication, and customer love.

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Anveya - Competitors

With a purview on the competitiveness Anyeva faces, Vivek Singh says - Anveya is filling a gap that has been ignored in the country forever. It is producing premium beauty and personal care products, obsessing around the product quality and effectiveness, and at par, if not beating their international counterparts. There are only a few brands doing the good work that the consumers of the country deserve. The team looks at them as inspirations rather than as competitors, and they hope that all of these good brands succeed and make their place in the consumer's hearts and in the market forever.

Anveya - Future Plans

Anveya's journey has just begun. It will be launching new categories and growing the range from its current set of 45 products to about 70 products in the coming year to cater to the needs and goals of its customers. The startup will be looking at expanding the reach of its e-commerce stores and also reaching customers through targeted marketplaces. The team is also working on enriching the experience of their customers through content, consultation, and solutions to their needs.

Anveya - FAQs

What is Anveya?

Anveya focuses on beauty, personal care, and wellness products which have a daily impact on lives and the planet.

Who founded Anveya?

Anveya Living Private Limited has been co-founded by Vivek Singh (CEO) & Saurav Patnaik (COO).

When was Anveya founded?

Anveya was founded in 2018.

Is Anveya an Indian Company?

Yes. Anveya is an Indian Company based out of Bangalore.

How does Anveya work?

Anveya is a direct-to-consumer brand (D2C). Its products are directly available for the customer at all points. The startup runs its own eCommerce stores at anveya.com and thriveco.in and directly manages its presence on Amazon and Flipkart without the involvement of any resellers. It operates its own warehouse and directly deals with logistics.

What are Anveya's Products?

Anveya's range comprises 40 premium quality products spread across the categories of Hair Care, Skincare, Cold-Pressed Oils, and Essential Oils. These products target some of the biggest hair & skin concerns like dryness, damage, frizz, breakage, hair fall, scalp health, and hair growth.