Bollywood Actor Rakul Preet Backs D2C Startup Wellbeing Nutrition

D2C health and nutrition startup Wellbeing Nutrition has received an undisclosed amount of investment from Bollywood actor Rakul Preet Singh. Singh will also be a brand ambassador for the startup. 

The investment follows Wellbeing Nutrition’s Series A funding round in June 2021. The round was led by Fireside Ventures, and also saw participation from ACG, one of the leading integrated solution providers in the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries. 

Prior to this round, in September 2020, Wellbeing Nutrition raised a $400K angel round with participation from investors including Roha Group, Beardo’s Ashutosh Valani and Priyank Shah, TikTok India’s Nikhil Gandhi, Harsh Vardhan Bhandari, and Jeenendra Bhandari.

Founded in 2019 by Avnish Chhabria, Wellbeing Nutrition provides vitamins and minerals supplements and sells products through its website and offline stores. It has over 2,000 offline stores in India as well as over 5,000 offline stores in other countries, including the US, UK, UAE and Germany.

It is reported to have partnered with Disney to launch a series of organic vitamins, probiotics and omega products for kids. 

According to an EY report, the Indian dietary supplements market has grown at a CAGR of around 15% to reach INR 331 Bn in FY21. The segment, which is considered to have a high potential given the growing lifestyle diseases, has witnessed an accelerated adoption curve post COVID-19. 

The startup faces competition from new-age D2C brands as well traditional wellness companies. Recently, FMCG company Emami Limited picked up a 19% equity stake in True Native F&B, the parent company of TruNativ, a nutrition-focused D2C FMCG startup, for an undisclosed amount. With this investment, Emami is likely to foray into the D2C healthy food and beverage vertical. 

In December 2021, D2C plant-based nutrition brand Plix raised $5 Mn in Series A funding from Guild Capital and RPSG Ventures. Founded in 2019 by Rishubh Satiya and Akash Zaveri, Plix sells plant-based nutritional supplements like gummies, ‘superfood’ powders and effervescent tablets. 

In October 2021, Bollywood actor Malaika Arora made an undisclosed investment in D2C ayurvedic nutrition brand Kapiva, and also joined the company as a brand ambassador. Kapiva’s offerings include ayurvedic juices, effervescent, gummies and more. 

Bollywood Backing To Startups Goes Beyond Promotions

Bollywood actors have recently been showing a lot of interest in the Indian startup ecosystem. In the first quarter of 2022, many startups got the backing of Bollywood celebrities. In March 2022, Sara Ali Khan made an undisclosed investment in casual wear and pop-culture D2C startup The Souled Store. 

In March 2022, Samantha Prabhu also invested an undisclosed amount in Hyderabad-based SustainKart as part of its seed-round funding. Besides this, Athiya Shetty invested in Delhi NCR-based social commerce startup Stage3 and later, joined it as a creative director. 

In February 2022, Suniel Shetty infused an undisclosed amount in fitness startup Aquatein. He also became the brand ambassador of Aquatein. 

Meanwhile, Pankaj Tripathi made an undisclosed investment in agritech startup Krishi Network. With the investment, Krishi Network decided to scale its AI-based technology platform across India and grow rapidly.