Roots Ventures, an investor in startups and growth-stage companies, has made its first investment in Supa Star Foods Pvt. Ltd, a packaged food and beverage maker.
Supa Star will use the funds to grow its distribution network and add more products. The size of the investment was not disclosed.
Founded by Pawan Raj Kumar and Sandeep Kohli, Supa Star launched its brand of traditional Indian sweets and savouries called Misht in 2017.
“Supa is catering to the growing demand for healthy and natural products. It was launched with its first brand SupaCorn in May 2015 and since then has expanded its distribution network throughout India,” said Kumar, co-founder and chief executive at Supa Star.
“Misht is about making traditional halwai products more accessible to all Indians living all over the world in a very hygienic and contemporary fashion.”
Over the next two years, Supa Star plans to introduce 50 products under its SupaCorn and Misht brands that will be made available in 10,000 shops across India, Kumar said, adding that products that are part of the Misht brand will also be sold through online channels in overseas markets.
According to Japan Vyas, founder of Roots Ventures, the Misht brand is tapping into the opportunity of changing consumer preferences in the traditional Indian sweets and savouries category.
“We Indians have traditionally purchased from the local halwai as lot of Indian sweets and savouries have to be consumed fresh due to their short shelf life. However, consumers nowadays are looking for greater assurance in hygiene and the new generation looks for contemporary offering. Misht is our play on organizing this almost ₹50,000 crore Indian sweets and savouries market through innovation in packaging,” said Vyas.
Mint reported in November that Roots Ventures is raising its debut fund of ₹300 crore.
Source: Mint