Plant-Based D2C Nutrition Brand Earthful Raises $400K In Pre-Seed Funding

* Earthful, a direct-to-consumer, plant-based nutrition brand has raised a Pre-Seed investment of USD 400 Thousand from Green Ivy Ventures among others. Marquee investors such as Abhishek Goyal of Tracxn; Jayant Paleti of Darwinbox; and Brij Bhushan of Magicpin have also participated in the round.

Over the last year, Earthful, co-founded by sisters Sudha Gogineni & Veda Gogineni, has shown an exemplary 5X growth. The clean label startup has witnessed a 15% MoM growth along with building a community of health enthusiasts. Earthful products are available to consumers through its own website and online marketplaces. More than 70-80% of the sales comes from their own website showcasing the strength of the brand love.

Earthful’s flagship product range includes 100% Plant Multivitamins, customised to the needs of Teens, Adults & Elderly, across genders. Their uniqueness lies in sourcing every single Vitamin & Mineral, from a science-backed plant source. For eg: Iron from Curry leaves, Vitamin C from Amla. They are also disrupting the Protein space, with a clean, 6 ingredients only, Plant Protein powder range, with natural Indianized tastes such as Kerala Vanilla, Alphonso Mango, Dark cocoa. They ensure the formulations are absolutely clean by avoiding unnecessary excipients, flavours, processed sugars and choosing natural alternatives.

Earthful was born out of a very personal need for founders, Sudha and Veda, to solve for their health needs. Coming from a health-conscious family, they understood the importance of eating right and staying fit. Yet, hustling a fast-paced lifestyle they fell prey to nagging health issues such as knee pains, energy crashes, etc. They understood the problem was hidden in their nutritional deficiencies. Being unhappy with the synthetic or animal-derived choices in the market, they went on to build a Clean, Plant based nutrition brand, Earthful.

Earthful has adopted a bold mission to fight hidden hunger in India, where we consume enough calories for our hunger but not the right amount & variety of nutrients. ~75% of Indians have deficiency of at least one Vitamin or Mineral, leading to health concerns. Earthful aims to tackle this problem head-on with its science-backed, plant nutrition.

Commenting on the investment, Veda Gogineni, Co-Founder, Earthful said, “We are delighted to have received the investment which will help us invest in research & development, build omni-channel distribution & expand our team.”

Abhishek Goyal, Co-Founder, Tracxn said, “Earthful is truly rebuilding trust in nutrition products by formulating clean products with transparency. Their choice of unique plant ingredients with scientific backing is very novel.”

Sudha, a Chemical engineer from IIT Kharagpur and ISB Hyderabad alumnus, has previously worked with ITC Ltd and Uber. While her co-founder, Veda, a Biotechnologist from IIT Kharagpur, earlier worked with Deutsche Bank and Meesho. Leveraging their strong science backgrounds & working with a team of qualified doctors & scientists, Earthful founders place highest importance to innovation & research. They also actively create content in increasing awareness about nutrition and wellness.

Highlighting the importance of quality, Sudha Gogineni, Co-Founder, Earthful said, “We are the first consumers of every product we make and are obsessed with quality & efficacy of our products.”

Dr. Sindhura, Director, Green Ivy Ventures said “I’m thrilled to partner with Earthful, founded by the incredible sisters Sudha & Veda. Their mission to fight undernutrition through 100% plant-based health supplements resonates deeply with me as a Doctor & Mother.”

Earthful is disrupting the fast- growing nutraceutical market in India, pegged to reach ~$18 billion by 2025. With the rise in lifestyle diseases, adoption of nutritional supplements has been on the rise.