HealthKart Raises $25 Mn Funding from Sofina

Digital nutrition platform HealthKart has raised $25 Mn from Sofina in a fresh round of financing.

HealthKart is an omnichannel healthcare platform, made up of an online portal, over 110 retail stores spread across 40 cities. Owned by Bright Lifecare Pvt Ltd, HealthKart also provides customer education modules for users in topics such as nutrition, fitness and wellness, through trained experts.

The company said it would use the funds to further expand its store network, and plans to use data science and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve its customer-facing offerings.

In a press statement, HealthKart said it has set up a 30 member R&D team, including food scientists and pharmacists, and it’s developing next-gen nutraceuticals or consumable nutrition products built for the Indian market. The company also revealed it is in talks to set up a manufacturing plant, for quicker product development, tighter control on manufacturing and fostering innovative nutrition products.

According to an Assocham report from 2017, the Indian nutraceuticals market is estimated to grow to around $10 Bn in 2022, and that each year $12-15 Bn is being added to the global market, which bodes well for Indian startups looking to go global in this space.

From Sports Nutrition Success to Supplements

Besides its general-purpose nutrition products, HealthKart says it saw double-digit market share for MuscleBlaze, the company’s sports nutrition product. Launched four years ago, MuscleBlaze has helped HealthKart achieve strong brand recall on digital channels. The company plans to build brands and IP in nutrition-adjacent categories such as vitamin supplements, health and fitness supplements and kids nutrition products.

Tanya Sen, Investment Manager at Sofina Asia said what impressed most about HealthKart was the pace set by MuscleBlaze in India. “We look forward to partnering with HealthKart to further expand its brand portfolio and distribution network in the fast-growing nutrition & wellness space in India. We are impressed by the pace at which the management team has scaled the MuscleBlaze brand and are proud to back their commitment to building a range of high quality, authenticity-guaranteed products for the Indian consumer,” Sen added.

Last year, HealthKart raised around $10 Mn or INR 73 Cr in a fresh funding round from Sequoia India and IIFL Alternate Asset Advisors Ltd. in July 2017, the company had raised around $1.01 Mn from Kae Capital. Other investors include Intel Capital, Edelweiss, Marico founder Harsh Mariwala and MakeMyTrip founder and CEO Deep Kalra.