Bollywood Celebrities Turn Investors With An Eye On India’s Startup Boom

The rapid growth of the Indian startup ecosystem over the last few years has captured the attention of Bollywood celebrities. Consequently, Bollywood actors have also turned investors, investing in Indian startups, along with venture capital and private equity funds, to make the most of this growth in Indian startups. 

India is home to 108  unicorns currently. Of this, unicorns like Mamaearth, Nykaa and Good Glamm Group have received investments from Bollywood actors. Besides, Bollywood actors such as Alia Bhatt, Anushka Sharma and Sonu Sood have set up their own startups Ed-a-Mamma, NUSH, and Pravasirojgar, respectively.

Download Annual Funding Report 2022

In the past few years, actors such as Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Alia Bhatt have backed several early-stage and growth-stage startups. 2022 was no different, we saw several Bollywood celebrities investing in startups. As part of the 9th edition of 2022 in Review series, we bring you the list of Indian actors and actresses who made investments in startups this year. 

Overall, Bollywood celebrities have backed 18 Indian startups in 2022. Besides, many of these actors also turned brand ambassadors for the startups they invested in, appearing in their commercials on digital platforms and television. 

Interestingly, a majority of investments by the Indian actors were in the direct-to-consumer (D2C) sector in 2022, while the remaining were in edtech, ecommerce, foodtech, health and fitness, and agritech sectors. 

Out of the 18 startups in which the actors invested, Mamaearth has gained unicorn status. Meanwhile, others are either early-stage or growth-stage startups.

 

Here Is A List Of Bollywood Celebrities That Invested In Indian Startups In 2022

Anushka Sharma 

Alongside a successful acting career, Anushka Sharma has also been actively investing in startups. The actor invested in three startups in the last three years.

In 2022, she backed two D2C brands – Slurrp Farm and Blue Tribe. While Slurrp Farm sells healthy snacks, Blue Tribe is a plant-based meat startup.

Slurrp Farm was founded by Meghana Narayan and Shauravi Malik in 2016 and is a subsidiary of Wholsum Food. It sells healthy snacks like flavoured cereals, ready-to-make foods, and superfoods for children. The startup has a presence in India, the US, the UK and the UAE. 

Excluding Sharma’s investment, Slurrp Farm has raised a total funding of $9 Mn till date. It counts Fireside Ventures and Investment Corporation of Dubai among its investors. As part of the deal, Sharma also became a brand ambassador for the startup and its subsidiaries. 

While plant-based meat startup Blue Tribe was founded in 2017 by Sandeep Singh and Nikki Arora Singh. It sells meat-alternative products such as frozen minced chicken, chicken nuggets, and keema. 

Blue Tribe claims that its products are made of pea, soybeans, and lentils. It reported a loss of INR 1.4 Cr in the financial year 2020-21, while its revenue stood at INR 15 Lakh, according to data available with business intelligence platform Tofler. 

Prior to these, Sharma, along with her husband Virat Kohli had invested INR 2.5 Cr in insurtech unicorn in 2020.

Athiya Shetty

Following the footsteps of her father, actor Athiya Shetty backed social commerce startup Stage3 in March this year. As part of the deal, she also joined the startup as a creative director. 

Set up in 2016 by Sabena Puri, Sanchit Baweja and Rina Dhaka, Stage3 sells fast fashion outfits endorsed by influencers and celebrities. Excluding Athiya’ investment, it has raised $4.65 Mn till date.

Stage3’s cap table includes Inflection Point Ventures, LC Nueva Investment Partners, Let’s Venture, Stanford Angels, Blume Ventures, and Mensa Brands’ Ananth Narayanan, among others.

Dia Mirza 

Veteran actor Dia Mirza backed sustainable baby clothing brand Greendigo in September this year. As part of the deal, she will also be promoting the brand as its brand ambassador.

Set up in 2019 by Barkha Bhatnagar Das and Meghna Kishore, Greendigo sells carbon-neutral clothes for infants and kids, including baby blankets, baby hooded towels and baby cot sets. Its products are certified by sustainable textile processing standard Global Organic Textile Standard, according to its website.

While announcing its fundraise, the startup’s founders said that it had 400 stock keeping units (SKUs) and would add another 300 SKUs by December. 

Greendigo reported a loss of INR 28.3 Lakh in FY20, while its revenue stood at INR 2.9 Lakh, according to Tofler. 

Kajal Aggarwal 

Actor Kajal Aggarwal invested in D2C ayurvedic brand The Ayurveda Co’s (TAC) $15 Mn Series A funding round in November.

Set up in 2021 by Param Bhargava and Shreedha Singh, TAC sells ayurvedic products in three categories – skincare, haircare and natural makeup. 

At the time of its fundraise in November, the startup said that it recorded 500% growth in revenue from March to October and was aiming for 10x growth by March 2023.

TAC has raised $18 Mn in funding till date. Its cap table includes Wipro Consumer Care Ventures, GetVantage, Velocity, Shiprocket Capital, Tricity Technologies’ Rahul Gupta and School of Design and Entrepreneurship’s Harsh Gupta, among others. 

It posted a revenue of INR 12.7 Cr in FY22, while its loss stood at INR 2.8 Cr during the year. 

Nora Fatehi 

Bollywood actress Nora Fatehi backed cloud kitchen aggregator Curefoods in July this year. She also became a brand ambassador of Curefoods’ subsidiary brand CakeZone.  

Founded in 2020 by Ankit Nagori, the cloud kitchen aggregator houses several brands like EatFit, Sharief Bhai, Aligarh House Biryani and CakeZone. During its last fundraise, the startup said that it operated over 150 cloud kitchens in 15 cities. 

In July, the startup got associated with Hrithik Roshan’s fitness brand HRX to expand across India, mainly focusing on the north Indian market.

Excluding Nora’s investment, the startup has raised a total funding of $132 Mn till date. It counts Crimson Winter, Iron Pillar, Chiratae Ventures, Sixteenth Street Capital, Accel Partners, and Binny Bansal among its investors.

Its operating revenue stood at INR 1.96 Cr in FY21, while its consolidated loss stood at INR 1.33 Cr in FY21, according to data available with Tofler. 

Pankaj Tripathi

Veteran Bollywood actor Pankaj Tripathi backed agritech startup Krishi Network earlier this year and was also roped in as its brand ambassador. 

Set up in 2015 by father-son duo of Aditya and Sanjay Agarwalla, Krishi Network provides an integrated supply chain to farmers, enabling them to directly sell their fresh produce to buyers by eliminating middlemen involved in the process.

The startup has raised $3 Mn in funding till date, excluding Tripathi’s investment. It counts Mistletoe’s Atsushi Taira, Y Combinator, Thiel Foundation, Venture Highway, FundersClub, Lynett Capital and Gokul Rajaram among its investors.

The startup reported a loss of INR 74 Lakh in FY20, while its revenue stood at INR 4.5 Lakh during the year, according to Tofler data. 

Rakul Preet Singh

Rakul Preet Singh backed D2C nutraceutical startup Wellbeing Nutrition in April this year. As part of the deal, she also became its brand ambassador.

Set up in 2019 by Avnish Chhabria, the nutraceutical startup sells vitamins and minerals supplements via its website and offline stores. It manages over 2,000 retail outlets in India and over 5,000 retail outlets in other countries including the US, the UK, the UAE and Germany.

In April, it said that it grew 40% month-on-month (MoM) and had a presence across 600+ cities of India. 

Till date, Wellbeing Nutrition has raised a funding of $2.6 Mn from investors including Fireside Ventures, ACG, Beardo’s Roha Group, Ashutosh Valani and Priyank Shah, former TikTok CEO Nikhil Gandhi and Harsh Vardhan Bhandari. 

It reported a loss of INR 5.8 Cr in FY22, while its operating revenue stood at INR 19.5 Cr, according to data available with Tofler.

Ranveer Singh

Ranveer Singh invested in D2C beauty brand SUGAR Cosmetics in September this year. As part of the deal, Singh was also roped in as its brand ambassador and would be creating strategies to attract GenZ and millennials. 

Started by Vineeta Singh and Kaushik Mukherjee in 2015, SUGAR sells beauty products across categories such as lips, eyes, nails and skin. It operates 1,750 exclusive brand outlets and also sells its products through retail chains such as Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, Central, Health & Glow, NewU and others.

The startup has raised $100 Mn in aggregate till date and counts L Catterton, A91 Partners, Elevation Capital, India Quotient and Elevation Capital among its investors. 

Its total revenue increased 21.6% to INR 127.8 Cr in FY21 from INR 105 Cr in FY20. Meanwhile, its loss stood at INR 21 Cr as against INR 28.2 Cr in FY20.

Rashmika Mandanna

Indian actor Rashmika Mandanna infused money in D2C vegan brand Plum and also became its brand ambassador in June this year.

Set up in 2013 by Shankar Prasad, Plum sells beauty products in four categories – skincare, haircare, personal care and makeup. It has an omnichannel presence in India. 

During its last fundraise, the startup said that it sells products via 1,000 multi-brand outlets and over 10,000 exclusive brand outlets across 250 cities of India.

It has raised total funding of $50 Mn till date. Plum counts A91 Partners, Unilever Ventures, Faering Capital, Trifecta Capital and Unilever Ventures among its investors.

Like other startups, Plum has also been impacted by the slowdown in the Indian startup ecosystem. In November, it was reported that Plum was sacking 36 employees as a cost-cutting measure.

Sara Ali Khan

Sara Ali Khan made an equity investment in D2C startup The Souled Store in March 2022. 

Set up in 2013 by Vedang Patel, Harsh Lal, Aditya Sharma and Rohin Samtaney, The Souled Store sells casual wear and pop-culture clothes such as top wear, bottom wear, innerwear and activewear.

During its last fundraise, the startup claimed it held over 180 licences such as Disney, Warner Bros, WWE, IPL, and Viacom18, among others, and that it had a customer base of over 4 Mn.

The startup has raised a funding of $13 Mn till date, apart from Khan’s investment.

Its cap table includes Elevation Capital, Delhivery’s Sahil Barua, Zalora’s Gunjan Soni, Mosaic Wellness’ Revant Bhate, Livspace’s Ramakant Sharma, Urban Ladder’s Ashish Goel, and OYO’s Rohit Kapoor, among others.

The Souled Store’s operating revenue stood at INR 146 Cr in FY22, while it reported a loss of INR 26.7 Cr during the year, according to data available with Tofler.

Shilpa Shetty

Veteran actor Shilpa Shetty has backed three startups in 2022 so far – upskilling platform Hunar, D2C unicorn Mamaearth and nutraceutical startup Fast&Up. 

In November, she infused an undisclosed amount in Hunar Online. The Hyderabad-based startup offers online courses in four disciplines – fashion designing, home décor, baking, and beauty. Fabric designing, home décor, jewellery designing and make-up, are among the courses offered by it. 

During its fundraise, the startup claimed that it was managing an online community of 20 Lakh women. It also said that it was offering online courses to over 45,000 students, of which around 30% were earning INR 50,000 every month.

Meanwhile, she invested INR 6.04 Cr in D2C unicorn Mamaearth in September. The startup, founded in 2016 by the husband-wife duo of Gazal and Varun Alagh, sells beauty and personal care products such as night cream, body lotion and toner, among others. 

It has raised $126.05 Mn so far from investors including Sequoia Capital, Sofina Ventures and UAE-based Evolvence, Stellaris Ventures, Fireside Ventures, Marico’s Rishabh Mariwala, Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, among others. 

In July, Shetty invested in Fullife Healthcare’s subsidiary brand Fast&Up. Set up in 2015 by Vijayaraghavan Venugopal and Varun Khanna, Fullife Healthcare also manages women-focused nutraceutical brand Chicnutrix. 

Announcing the investment by Shetty, Fullife Healthcare said that Fast&Up and Chicnutrix have a presence in India and international markets, including the US, the UK and Europe.

Excluding Shetty’s funding, Fullife has raised a total funding of $34.5 Mn till date from investors including Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia (MSPEA), Indian cricketer Mayank Agarwal, Sixth Sense and Amansa Capital, among others.

Suniel Shetty

Veteran Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty has been aggressively investing in startups for the last few years. The actor invested in five startups over the last three years.

Shetty has backed D2C startup Aquatein and men-focussed jewellery brand MetaMan in 2022. 

MetaMan, set up in 2022 by Anil Shetty, sells men’s jewellery such as bracelets, pendants and chains, earrings and rings. It counts Zerodha’s Nikhil Kamath, Accel Partners’ Prashanth Prakash and cricketer KL Rahul as its investors.

Aquatein is a fitness brand, founded by Ananta Prabhala in 2019. It sells protein-enriched drinks. It follows a subscription-based model and delivers these drinks at customers’ doorstep. 

Besides Shetty’s investment, Aquatein has raised just $500K in its seed funding round from venture capital firm Eaglewings Ventures.

Aquatein reported a loss of INR 57 Lakh in FY21, while its operating revenue stood at INR 18 Lakh during the year, as per its filings accessed from Tofler.

In 2021, the actor invested in NFT startup Colexion. Founded in 2021, Colexion allows users to buy and trade digital collectables related to cricket and film stars. At the time of fundraising, the startup claimed that it hosted more than 1,200 NFTs from over 100 celebrities across 10+ countries. In 2020, Shetty invested in healthtech startup Vieroots and nutraceutical startup BodyFirst. 

Tiger Shroff 

Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff invested in edtech startup Freadom’s $2.5 Mn funding round in January this year. Set up in 2016 by Kavish Gadia and Nikhil Saraf, the startup deploys AI and data science to help children learn the English language. The startup is an initiative of Stones2Milestones Edu Services Pvt Ltd. 

While announcing its last fundraise, the startup claimed that it was on track to have 10 Mn readers by the end of 2022 and aimed to expand its user base to 50 Mn globally by 2023. 

Freadom counts Ashneer Grover, V-Mart Retail’s Lalit Agarwal and PayU’s Aakash Moondhara, Unreasonable Capital, Quantiphi, and Singapore Angels among its investors. 

Varun Dhawan

Like many of his Bollywood colleagues, Varun Dhawan is currently building his startup portfolio. In the last two years, the actor invested in two startups – Curefoods and Fast&Up.

In April this year, he infused an undisclosed amount of money in cloud kitchen aggregator Curefoods. As part of the deal, he became a brand ambassador of Curefoods’ subsidiary EatFit.

Incorporated by Ankit Nagori, Curefoods runs various cloud kitchen brands such as EatFit, Sharief Bhai and Aligarh House Biryani, among others.

In January, it merged cloud kitchen startup Maverix’s with itself to grow market presence and manufacturing capabilities. Curefoods also bought exclusive franchise rights of US-based food brand Sbarro and a majority stake in milkshake brand Frozen Bottle this year.

Previously, Dhawan backed Fullife Healthcare’s D2C nutraceutical brand Fast&Up in 2021.

The ongoing funding winter has resulted in a downturn and layoffs in the Indian startup ecosystem in 2022. However, the startup ecosystem is expected to shake off the temporary slowdown and continue its forward march in the long-term. As such, the trend of Bollywood celebrities turning investors to make the most of this growth journey is expected to continue in 2023 and beyond.

Download Annual Funding Report 2022