Startups That Are Funded By Shilpa Shetty Kundra
🔍InsightsFrom the past few years there has been an increase of Bollywood celebrities backing startups as investors or even launching their own ventures. Many celebrities like Alia Bhatt, Suniel Shetty, Anushka Sharma, Katrina Kaif and Sonu Sood have recently started investing or endorsing the products of startups during the Covid 19 Pandemic in order to help maintain the startup ecosystem.
This also includes Shilpa Shetty Kundra who has launched her own fitness and health app called Simple Soulful and also invested in a Gurugram based startup known as Mamaearth.
Shilpa Shetty Kundra is an Indian actress, film producer, dancer and also is known to be businesswomen and author. The actress is popular for her roles in movies like Baazigar, Main Khiladi Tu Anari, Life in a Metro, etc.
Shilpa Shetty Kundra has been a part of various fitness campaign such as the Fit India movement which was lauched by the Government of India.
She has also been a part owner of the Indian Premium League (IPL) team Rajasthan Royals from 2009 to 2015. Besides that she is also known to be a devote fitness enthusiast and celebrity endorser for brands and products and has been vocal about issues like feminism and animal rights.
Which is why the Shilpa started her own fitness and health app (Simple Soulful) and has also funded a startup Mamaearth that sells mother and childcare products. The startups funded by Shilpa Shetty Kundra are:
Mamaearth
Simple Soulful
Frequently Asked Questions
Mamaearth
Mamaearth was founded in 2016 by a couple Varun and Ghazal Alagh, the company is owned and operated by Honasa Consumer Pvt. Ltd. The company is known for its product line that includes toxin free body lotions, rash creams, shampoos, body wash, massage oils and even bug sprays which are curated for the children up to the age of five years.
The company concentrates on making products that are for stress relief, postpartum weight loss for new mothers and non-preservative products for lactation.
The company sells most its products on its own website and other online ecommerce platforms like Amazon, FirstCry, Nykaa, Flipkart and Paytm. Shilpa Shetty Kundra has funded over $250,000 to the startup in April of 2018 and has backed the company ever since. Â
In an interview Shilpa disclosed that she decided to fund the startup because it offered natural and chemical free nature of products. Over 90% of company’s sales are done online but are also available in more than 300 stores across cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi and are planning to expand to ten other cities in the country.
The company has its headquarters in Gurugram and has raised over Rs 6.5 crore in just the second round of funding by Fireside Ventures and other investors. It also managed to raise Rs 130 crore from the Sequoia Capital India, Fireside Ventures, Stellaris Venture Partners and Sharp Ventures.
It has so far acquired over 5 million new customers and aims on making the company over Rs 500 crore brand by 2023. The company also plans on launching more products and expanding operation to parts of Southeast Asia.
Why fund Mamaearth?
According to the founders Mamaearth, it is a pioneer in selling safer products curated specially for mothers and kids of India. The company is aiming to build a brand that is friendly to parents and intends to make lives of the mothers and pregnant woman better and beautiful. Mamaearth is also Asia 1st brand which sells the Made Safe Certified Products. Most the products are made by mothers as nobody else understands a baby’s needs like a mother does.
Which is why the company has a working panel of mothers who give genuine reviews to all the products. For the past 15 years the GDP per capita has become 4 times more especially in the urban cities, while the childcare has increased eight fold.
There has also been a rise in new mothers looking for customized products for themselves and their children. Mamaearth is helpful in reducing parental stress amongst young parents. In an interview, Varun Alagh disclosed how he got Shilpa Shetty Kundra to invest in the startup.
“The process started over a year back with finding ways to get a window with her which took nearly 3 months after sending many pitches. But after the meeting we gave her all our products to try it herself and on her son.” He also added that the actress did her own in-depth research on Mamaearth after which she went on to backing the startup as an equity investor.
App launched by Shilpa Shetty Kundra
Simple Soulful
Simple Soulful is a holistic wellness and Health App launched by Shilpa Shetty Kundra and designed by experts of Yoga, Exercise, Immunity and Diet Programs.
The 45 year old Bollywood actress made this app because she is a fitness enthusiast, has active lifestyle and lives by the philosophy of “Swasth Raho, Mast Raho” which translates to “Stay Healthy, Stay Happy.” The app encourages a healthy lifestyle and offers a customized goal based yoga and fitness programs.
These programs are specifically designed to help its customers lose weight, improve flexibility, strengthen core muscles, tone arms and legs. They also have programs that will help customers with special ailments like focusing of diabetes, low and high blood pressure, immunity, sleep and stress management.
Simple Soulful has free and has easy to do yoga asanas with step by step instructions, other exercise, diet plans, recommendations and delicious yet nutritious recipes to maintain a healthy balance in life. The target audience of the app is working women and men but it also caters to young mothers and youngsters.
The features and pricing of the app
The cost of Simple Soulful is Rs. 499 for a month, Rs 999 Quarterly and Rs 2499 annually. The app/website also allows its customers to purchase single videos for a minimum cost of Rs 99.
These subscriptions give its customers an access to 60 plus yoga and meditation programs by experts, daily diet plans, recommendations, asanas, exercises and healthy recipes. The app is available for iOS 11.0 and Android 5.0 with a lifetime of access. The special features of simple soulful are:
- The users of the app can work out with Shilpa Shetty Kundra as she is the one that performs them while being mentored by experts.
- The workouts are designed in a way that it is easy, quick and home based that can be performed anywhere and anytime.
- The programs help people in boosting their immunity especially during the Covid 19 pandemic.
- The recipes require simple and less ingredients which are also highly nutritional.
- Their special program made only for women, like exercising videos for pregnancy, post pregnancy weight loss and menstrual pain.
- The app allows you to download programs and workout without Internet along with tracking and displaying their fitness journey.
Benefits of Simple Soulful
Shilpa Shetty Kundra is a well-known yoga practitioner which is why the app has a whole section of yoga programs which made specifically for different levels like the beginners.
They also have an Office yoga section where working men and women can practice simple workouts around their office chair. Like the yoga videos the exercising videos also come with many difficulty levels and have an apt description of the benefits of each workout. Another main benefit is that once the videos are downloaded, you can keep up with your training with without data or Wifi.
Shilpa Shetty in an interview mentioned that she not tech savvy but made sure to work with the apple accelerator team to make sure that the interface of Simple Soulful is simple to navigate and easy to use.
The app is also on iPad and Apple watch integration and plans to integrate siri for voice commands. Shilpa loves the app and has put a lot of effort into making it, she has also shot for videos eight hours in one go.
According to Shilpa, “I started learning advanced yoga and have achieved my own fitness goals while working on the app”. Her point is that, If she can do it, so can you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Shilpa Shetty Kundra?
Shilpa Shetty Kundra is an Indian actress, film producer, dancer and also is known to be businesswomen and author.
What is the startup that is funded by Shilpa Shetty Kundra?
The startup that is funded by Shilpa Shetty Kundra is Mamaearth.
What is the fitness app of Shilpa Shetty Kundra?
The fitness app of Shilpa Shetty Kundra is Simple Soulful
What is Mamaearth?
Mamaearth is a startup that is known to sell mother and childcare products that are safe to use.
What is Simple Soulful?
Simple Soulful is a holistic wellness and Health App launched by Shilpa Shetty Kundra and designed by experts of Yoga, Exercise, Immunity and Diet Programs.
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