Kapiva Ayurveda, a disruptive ayurvedic healthcare startup backed by the Baidyanath group, plans to foray into the Bangalore and Hyderabad markets by the end of this year and raise around $10 million over the next year and a half to fund its expansion into other tier-1 cities across the country as well as build its brand in the US and European markets.
Start-up, which currently has a presence in Mumbai and Kolkata, manufactures and markets premium ayurvedic products targeted primarily at health conscious youngsters looking for on-the-go ayurveda. It has already raised $1.5 million from various investors, including $450,000 from the Baidyanath group that holds majority stake.
Shrey Badhani, founder and CEO, Kapiva Ayurveda said “We were surprised to find that 30% of the orders on our website come from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. This prompted us to look seriously at the Hyderabad market, which we plan to enter by November end or early December this year after our foray into Bangalore. Kapiva is looking at opening at 2-3 standalone clinics-cum-walkthrough pharmacies (typically 300-600 sft and helmed by an ayurvedic doctor) in Hyderabad and distribution through 300 stores comprising organised retailers, walk-through pharmacies and prominent standalone retailers over the next six months. We want to be in 3-4 cities and 2000 stores by the end of the fiscal and also build our brand in the US, both online and offline,” he said. In Mumbai, the start-up has four clinics with another two planned by January 2018 and also retails through 600 stores. In Kolkata, it has a presence in 100 outlets and operates four clinics along with Baidyanath group”.
Shrey Badhani also said “We hope to hit a revenue run rate of Rs 1 crore per month over the next 3-4 months,” he said. Currently exports account for nearly 40-45% of Kapiva’s sales while the domestic market accounts for 40% and 15% is through online sales, which includes its own website and e-commerce retailers. Kapiva, which garners the raw materials from farmers in Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Sikkim, has a manufacturing agreement with Baidyanath group’s to utilise two of the latter’s GMP certified manufacturing facilities in Kolkata”.
