9Unicorns Leads Seed Investment Round In TruNativ, An Up-to-date Smart Nutrition Startup

9Unicorns, India’s debut early-stage accelerator VC fund, has recently led the seed funding round in TruNativ, a ‘smart nutrition’ company working towards the empowerment of health and fitness enthusiasts with affordable and salubrious food and beverage options. In a market where processed and unhealthy food products have become so common, the company intends to create more transparent, nutritionally balanced, and healthy substitutes for people who are concerned about nature and health.

Supported by science, tested and re-tested for quality, the products bring real ingredients of nature and their goodness stacked on the shelves. Other co-investors here include Ashutosh Valani, Founder, Beardo and Priyank Shah, Founder, Beardo, Anshul Punhani, Ex-CMO, Monster and Vikas Bagaria, Founder, Peesafe.

An entrepreneur since 15 years of age, Pranav did his graduation from Mumbai University and then studied Entrepreuership Essentials from the Harvard Business School to go on to initiate the company. It derives its inspiration from nature and its bounty where every functional ingredient has a healing influence on people. On the back of its uncommon range of Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) products directly sourced from nature with minimum processing, the company has set out to revolutionize India’s health and nutraceutical space. Its aim is in line with the shift in consumer behaviour and sensibilities away from unhealthy, processed food and beverage choices available today in the market.

Motivated by Government’s mission of offering holistic nutrition to Indians under its Poshan Abhiyaan, the company is determined to full the shelves of the nation’s grocery stores with best quality nutritional, healthy, and chemical-free products for customers who like to eat healthy food. The company is also devoted to ensure that the customers gain transparent access to the ingredients that actually go into the making of its healthy, purely natural portfolio of products.

Talking about the investment, Pranav Malhotra, founder of TruNativ stated- “We are extremely thrilled to be associating with 9Unicorns. It’s about time that Indian consumers know what they are consuming before they consume it. Today, people are more critical of the ingredients when they buy food products. They are walking away from preservatives, chemicals, and unnatural products. TruNativ is an effort to provide a range of clean and nutritious offerings in unique FMCG product formats, with ingredients that are only and truly natural without any artificial addition to them. We thank 9Unicorns for believing in our venture. We are confident that their expertise and guidance will help us scale new heights.”

Dr Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, MD and co-founder of 9Unicorns informed- “Health and environment-conscious individuals in urban India are increasingly looking to consume the F&B options that are not only healthy, nutrition-laden, and natural in terms of their constituent ingredients but also sourced and processed in a way that doesn’t harm the environment. Take a look, for instance, at products containing whey protein that are gaining increasing popularity, with the whey protein industry projected to reach $3.03 billion by 2023. Until recently, only a limited range of suitable options was available to Indians who prefer eating and living healthy, resulting in a huge, unaddressed gap in the market. A lack of any sizeable competition in the healthy instant mix market provides TruNativ with a strategic advantage to capture a lion’s share of India’s functional F&B market on the back of its assorted range of Whey Protein and FROAT products.”

Anshul Punhani, ex-CMO, Monster mentioned- “India’s food and beverage market is currently witnessing a burgeoning demand for healthy, chemical-free, and instant-mix food products. On the back of its unique range of products, TruNativ is equipped to meet this demand while establishing its leadership position in this space. The company’s market-readiness is complemented by its strong founding team driven by iron-clad determination. We are confident that TruNativ will usher in a nutraceutical revolution in the country’s FMCG space. We wish them continued success.”