Kapiva: India's 1st Modern Ayurvedic Nutrition Brand
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Ayurveda is regarded as the oldest of the sciences, which focuses on healing our bodies and minds. The healing science, Ayurveda translates to "The Science of Life" in Sanskrit, the knowledge of which originated in India dating back to around 5000 years ago.
Also known as the "Mother of All Healing", Ayurveda stems from the ancient Vedic culture when it was taught in the oral form in a Gurukul tradition by accomplished masters to their disciples who lived at their residence. In fact, many of the alternative medicinal sciences and therapies like homeopathy and polarity therapy are believed to have their roots in the ancient Ayurvedic principles.
Ayurveda is a complex form of alternative medicine that includes "panchakarma" or five actions, yoga, massage, acupuncture, and herbal medicine for the health and well-being of the body and mind.
Though much of the Ayurvedic knowledge of the past has been buried with it, some of them managed to be scripted and percolated to the present generation. Kapiva is one such brand that holds on to the ancient principles of Ayurveda and tweaks them to fit modern lives. The Modern Ayurvedic Nutrition Brand is based on the holistic approach to wellness and not just a curative science.
Read on to know the full story of about Kapiva, its Founders, How was Kapiva Started, Name, Logo and Tagline, Vision and Mission, Products and Services, Target Market Size, Business and Revenue Model, Startup Launch, Customers/Clients, Challenges, Investors and Funding and more.
Kapiva: Company Highlights
| Company Name | Kapiva |
|---|---|
| Founders | Ameve Sharma & Shrey Badhani |
| Sector | FMCG |
| Founded | 2016 |
| Registered Entity Name | Adret Retail Pvt Ltd. |
| Website | kapiva.in |
Kapiva: Latest News
October 27, 2021 - Malaika Arora backs Kapiva. The Bollywood actress will be joining as a strategic investor, brand ambassador, and ‘wellness mentor’ at the Kapiva Academy of Ayurveda.
Kapiva: About
Kapiva: Founders
How Was Kapiva Started?
Kapiva: Name, Logo and Tagline
Kapiva: Vision and Mission
Kapiva: Products and Services
Kapiva: Target Market Size
Kapiva: Growth
Kapiva: Business and Revenue Model
Kapiva: Startup Launch
Kapiva: Customers/ Clients
Kapiva: Challenges
Kapiva: Investors & Funding
Kapiva: Advisors and Mentors
Kapiva: Competitors
Kapiva: Recognition and Achievements
Kapiva: Future Plans
Kapiva: About
Kapiva can be regarded as the "India's 1st Modern Ayurvedic Nutrition Brand" that offers food-based innovations to help build healthier lifestyles for the Indians. With the rich legacy of Baidyanath, Kapiva acquired the knowledge and the authority to amalgamate traditional Ayurveda with the modern forms of nutrition.
Kapiva is derived from the three doshas in the Ayurvedic universe - Kapha, Pitta, Vata, which when balanced in a body, bring overall wellness. As mentioned earlier, the brand is established on the belief that Ayurveda is a holistic approach to wellness and not just a curative science.
The Ayurveda-inspired nutrition brand brings a range of organic fruits, vegetables, and other food products to improve the lifestyle of the present generation. The company also brings diversified solutions including daily wellness, men's health, weight loss, digestion, diabetes, skincare, blood pressure, strength, destress and memory boosting, artho care, kidney stone, and more. In addition, Kapiva never fails to innovate its products to bring this traditional ayurvedic wisdom to consumers in modern, easy-to-use formats, along with delivering them with good nutritional value.
Kapiva: Founders
Kapiva is founded by Ameve Sharma and Shrey Badhani.
They joined hands in January 2016 to build the world of modern Ayurvedic brand, Kapiva.
Ameve Sharma grew up in Kolkata and belongs to the family, which founded the famous Baidyanath Group. His grandfather was the founder of Baidyanath and his father still stands as the current Managing Director of the ayurvedic pharmaceutical company. Ameve is the Chairman of the Western region at the Indian Chamber of Commerce and the President of the Baidyanath Group. He has also worked as a Consultant with McKinsey & Company after completing his MBA. He completed his Bachelors in Economics from New York University and went ahead to pursue MBA from INSEAD.
Chayanika Goswami
Shrey Badhani is an adept and experienced sales and marketing professional. He has been instrumental in driving growth and implementing strategic management at Kapiva. Shrey looks after the e-commerce platform, offline sales, marketing and operations for Kapiva. He started his career in Consulting with Bain & Co and Parthenon. Most recently, he worked as a PE investor with Bain Capital in their India office. Shrey pursued Bachelors in Economics and History from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai and Masters in Economics from the University of Cambridge.
Kapiva has a talented team that bring a varied sense of experience to the table. From reputed business school graduates and experienced senior professionals to college freshers and hardworking amateurs, employees at Kapiva come from various walks of life and add value to the overall success of the company. This eclectic bunch brings the much-needed diversity in perception, having a positive impact on major business decisions.
Kapiva Apprenticeship Programme, where the seniors and experienced staff mentor juniors and help them gain valuable business insights. This has helped the employees gain a cohesive professional experience at a very young age.
Chayanika Goswami
How Was Kapiva Started?
Ayurveda has always been at the heart of the Indian tradition. However, somewhere along the way the true essence of it had been lost. People approached Ayurveda with a curative lens but it is in fact, a way of life! It relies on the principle of ‘food is medicine’ and ‘you are what you eat’. Western countries have begun understanding the true value of ayurvedic sciences and the industry is booming rapidly overseas. With the advent of turmeric lattes, moringa cereals, and more, other countries seem to appreciate our traditions more than we do!
One of the major reasons why Ayurveda does not fare well in India is due to the lack of awareness about its benefits and values among the millennial population. Considering that India has one of the largest Gen Y population of the world, we are actually not catering to almost 34% of the total Indian population. To combat this, Kapiva has anchored on creating this awareness among the millennials and securing a modern ayurvedic nutrition stance to educate that section of consumers.
All products of Kapiva are created keeping the busy and on-the-go lifestyle of modern-day Indians, who seek to maintain an upkeep of their health in easy to use and convenient options without having to compromise on taste.
For instance, Kapiva Gummies are designed for on-the-go nutrition with the power of Ayurvedic herbs in a yummy-gummy format, which is convenient as well as a joy to consume!
Chayanika Goswami
Kapiva: Name, Logo and Tagline
Kapiva's logo is interestingly designed in black and white where the starting letter of the brand, "K" stands in an enlarged version with the brand name "Kapiva" written inside it.
Kapiva rests on a core philosophy, "Your simple guide to everyday Ayurveda". The name Kapiva is derived from the three doshas in the Ayurvedic universe - Kapha, Pitta, Vata, which when balanced in a body, bring overall wellness.
The founders believed in this balanced approach to health using Ayurveda, and the company is well poised to achieve its growth objective as consumers begin to adopt this philosophy by proactively seeking better nutrition. In addition to core Ayurveda, the various product innovations add further value to consumers, making Kapiva a preferred brand for modern wellness.
Kapiva: Vision and Mission
Kapiva's mission is to provide a new-age Ayurveda for the new-age customers. Furthermore, the company wants to free Ayurveda of its complexities and enable millenials to make it a part of their everyday life, live a holistic lifestyle.
Shubham Kumar
Kapiva’s vision is to not only provide Ayurveda-based nutrition products, but also bring balance into the lives of the customers through these products.
Kapiva: Products and Services
Kapiva stands for modern ayurvedic nutrition. They have been able to disrupt the traditional ayurvedic industry, by presenting the benefits of Ayurveda to the modern lives of the Indians in easily accessible and convenient forms. With the backing of an Ayurveda-inspired innovation, Kapiva has access to the best suppliers of natural ingredients in the country and has built a very strong sourcing story for all its natural products. In addition, the founders’ exposure to various markets during their earlier experiences, has helped them understand the modern consumer’s needs very well.
Kapiva is designed for a fast-paced 21st-century lifestyle, especially where the lack of the right nutrition and inadequate immunity can pose serious health risks. The company has created a new category of modern ayurvedic nutrition, which never existed before, addressing the core consumer needs of health and taste.
For example, Kapiva Wild Amla Juice is made from ripe, yellow Amlas as they are more nutritious compared to the commonly used raw, green amlas. Furthermore, the juices are cold-pressed to retain all their nutritional content. All the products share such unique sourcing stories. The company’s fast growth trajectory is a result of the innovation in product development by bringing better quality, more convenient products to the consumer.
Chayanika Goswami
Kapiva invests in R&D and innovates on sourcing better ingredients, convenient product formats, and consumer-friendly packaging, to deliver more value to the consumer. The company has developed a top-of-the-line and robust R&D setup in-house, while working with top food technology experts of the country, such as the former heads of R&D at companies like Britannia and HUL, to build best-in-class products ranges. Kapiva remains focused on innovating on more accessible nutrition, under the realm of Ayurveda. The purity and quality in the sourcing of ingredients have been given center stage.
Kapiva: Target Market Size
Ayurveda is a ₹30,000-crore industry in India. As per 2020's estimates, Kapiva is expected to cross ₹300 crores in revenue by 2025 and capture a significant part of this market. Kapiva’s market largely revolves around the Indian subcontinent, with a wide reach. Indians are believers in the power of Ayurveda and the modern Indian consumer is looking for a more accessible and convenient format of Ayurveda to consume its benefits. Kapiva has witnessed expansion abroad and is currently operating in the US, planning to expand to Canada and the European markets in the coming months.
Chayanika Goswami
Today, Kapiva has a portfolio of 50+ products and is present across the top online marketplaces (Amazon, Flipkart, Big Basket, PharmEasy, to name a few) as well as its own website (direct-to-consumer business model). The products are also available in 6000+ General Trade and Modern Trade outlets in the top cities of India.
Kapiva: Growth
Pre-COVID, the ayurvedic market typically witnessed 15-20% growth annually. Contrary to this, in the last quarter, many companies, large and small, witnessed growth between 50-90%. The adoption of Ayurveda as holistic, natural healthcare will have a positive impact on the market. Not just in India, the developing economic conditions of various nations are elevating the demand for Ayurvedic products globally. Ayurveda was considered a pharmaceutical approach earlier and was only used as a solution to specific problems. However, Ayurveda is actually about proactive, holistic health, and consumers are embracing it as such, now.
People around the world today, are focusing more on herbal products and leveraging herbal remedies to enhance their mental and physical health and wellbeing. The global Ayurvedic market was valued at Rs 300 billion in 2018 and is estimated to reach Rs 710.87 billion by 2024, as per Global Newswire. All of these are directly helping Kapiva to scale greater heights.
- The company has grown to be a Rs 50 crore brand in just 3 years. Yes, Kapiva has witnessed a growth of Rs 0 - Rs 50 crore in revenue in less than 3 years. Some other growth highlights of Kapiva are as follows:
- Kapiva currently boasts of having over 6,000 general trade outlets across 12 Indian cities and has been looking to expand it to 10,000+ outlets.
- It has witnessed around 10x growth in the span of the last 30 months
- It has launched 50+ products in 5 categories in 2020.
Kapiva: Business and Revenue Model
Kapiva follows a D2C strategy of business to deliver a true omni-channel experience of FMCG sales. The consumers of Kapiva's products are typically in their mid-20’s to late 40’s, residing in Metros, Tier 1, and Tier 2 cities.
Kapiva has enjoyed a natural product-market fit, especially leading in certain categories such as Herbal Juices. The current strategy is to expand the footprint across channels, especially through marketing and new product development, both of which are being undertaken with a keen eye on consumer preferences. Customer focus determines the way forward for Kapiva.
Having its genesis as an offline brand, Kapiva had already enjoyed quite a success in the offline markets, which helped the company earn a turnover of about Rs. 3 crore a month in the first eighteen months or so.
The company started focusing on online distribution from 2019 onwards. Therefore, it is the offline success that helped the company rapidly scale the online markets.
Today, along with its own D2C platform, Kapiva retails on all the prominent online marketplaces, from Amazon and Flipkart to Big Basket and Nykaa.
A major chunk of the company's revenues comes from its digital channels. Furthermore, the products of Kapiva are also available across General Trade and Modern Trade outlets in the top cities of India, which also helps the company earn a considerable amount of revenue.
Shubham Kumar
Kapiva: Startup Launch
The company began by making its mark on online marketplaces such as Amazon. The herbal juices category was underrepresented on these platforms then, but the need was definitely present, as was the natural product-market fit. Kapiva capitalized on it and thus acquired the first batch of loyal users.
Kapiva: Customers/ Clients
Kapiva focuses very heavily on the right product positioning within a category, by taking great efforts to carve out compelling differentiators of the product before its launch. In addition, their strong go-to-market strategy helps with accelerated results as soon as they enter a category. However, above all, the company believes that it is the quality of their products which customers appreciate and call out the most, leading to better retention and word-of-mouth marketing.
Devashish Shrivastava
Kapiva: Challenges
Though the popularity of Baidyanath, which runs through the veins of Kapiva, helped the brand initially but standing as an Ayurvedic brand in a country dominated by allopathy is itself a laudable feat.
Kapiva initially started off as a chain of Ayurvedic clinics, through which high-quality products were sold as well. Pivoting from that clinic/retail model to the current FMCG model was also a challenge.
Yash Taneja
Kapiva: Investors & Funding
| Date | Stage | Amount | Investors Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 2019 | Series A | USD 2.5 Million | Fireside Ventures, Mohandas Pai Family Office, Marico Family Office (Sharrp Ventures) |
| April 2020 | Series A1 | INR 13.5 Crores | Jetty Ventures, Fireside Ventures, Marico Family Office (Sharrp Ventures) |
Kapiva: Advisors and Mentors
Kapiva enjoys the mentorship of various experienced investors. The Baidyanath connection forms a valuable advisory channel as well.
Kapiva: Competitors
Kapiva competed with Patanjali, Dabur, Himalaya.
Kapiva: Recognition and Achievements
Kapiva has been awarded The Economic Times Emerging Consumer Brand of the Year 2020. Apart from that, the co-founders of Kapiva, Ameve Sharma and Shrey Badhani have been awarded Emerging Entrepreneurs of Year Awards in the Product or Manufacturing- Healthcare category.
Rishabh Rathi
Kapiva: Future Plans
Kapiva has grown from 0 to 50 crores in less than 3 years. It has scaled rapidly with over 3x increase in monthly revenue from March 2019 to March 2020. The company is expected to close FY21 with revenue run-rate of Rs 70 Crores per annum. Given the strong growth trajectory, Kapiva is all set for profitability within the next 2 years. Since launch, Kapiva has served more than a million consumers and is seeing good traction in, both, Indian and international markets.
The future plans for Kapiva are as follows:
1) Innovation through new product development. Kapiva’s range of immunity products is expected to expand soon, followed by products such as ayurvedic breakfast and ayurvedic effervescent drinks, which will cater to customers’ taste preferences, while being healthy.
2) Expanding the distribution network offline and scaling up the direct-to-consumer channel. Kapiva is currently present in 6,000+ general trade outlets across 12 cities. This is set to expand 10,000+ outlets and cover more cities by the end of this financial year. The direct-to-consumer channel has had a great growth story too – it grew about 20x in revenue in less than a year. It is expected that this strategic channel will grow another 5x this year.
3) Building their brand communication to share their story of modern ayurvedic nutrition. They are focussing on digital channels at the moment, since their customer base is largely present here.
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