How AURIC Scaled To INR 100 Cr By Taking Ayurveda Global

The 5,000-year-old practice of mindful living, health and well-being, Yoga today is a $100 Bn+ industry. Often touted as the ancient art of meditation, which finds its roots in ancient Indian sacred texts, yoga has become a global phenomenon — a sensation, if you will — especially after the outbreak of the pandemic, which forced people to become serious about health and longevity.

However, what’s interesting is that more than 90% of the industry’s market value comes from outside India, with the highest popularity in regions such as North America and Europe.

Intrigued by this data, first-time entrepreneur and IITian Deepak Agarwal decided to take Ayurveda from India to the world. In his quest, he decided to create an Ayurvedic wellness brand, which today harvests 70% of its revenue from global markets such as North America.

Founded in 2019, AURIC offers herbal supplements, Ayurvedic foods, lab-certified bilona method ghee, peanut butter, honey, flavoured nuts, herbal teas, pre-mixes, supplements, and effervescent tablets, serving both Indian and international markets.

It exports to over 10+ countries, including the USA, the UK, Australia, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Singapore. 

Since its inception, the startup has raised nearly $6 Mn from Cactus Partners, 9Unicorns, Venture Catalysts, Capital A, Force Ventures, Aman Gupta, Ramakanta Sharma, and Varun Alagh, among others.

With a key focus on global markets and tweaking its playbook, the brand claims to have breached the INR 100 Cr revenue mark in just one year from a mere INR 18 Cr in FY24.

Now, before we understand what led to this high-octane growth in the last one year, let’s first understand how Agarwal found his true calling in Ayurveda.   

The Genesis Of AURIC

The IIT Delhi chemical engineer has a decade-long experience of working with Unilever in India, Switzerland, and Singapore under his belt. During his stint at the multinational FMCG company, Agarwal has worked with brands such as Fair & Lovely, Lux, and Clinic Plus. 

He has also led strategic transformation initiatives and supply chain optimisation across multiple continents. His expertise includes scaling businesses, optimising costs, and driving strategic transformation. 

While he left Unilever in 2017 to bring his vision to life, the seeds of AURIC had already been sown in 2008 when he endured a backbone injury.

After committing to physiotherapy sessions for three years, he decided to surrender himself to yoga. Well, there was nothing to lose, but pain and suffering. Before he knew it, five years passed in relief and great health. 

Around 2015, one of his neighbours introduced him to the teachings of Sadhguru, which made him curious about ancient Indian wisdom. 

Coincidently, HUL was planning to relaunch its Ayurvedic brand, Lever Ayush. This was also the time when Patanjali was also gaining traction in the FMCG space, leading to numerous internal discussions at Unilever.

Recognising the growing demand for Ayurvedic products, HUL repositioned Lever Ayush for the mass market with a range of offerings, including toothpaste, skin creams, soaps, and shampoos. 

The series of occurrences — from his backbone injury to practising yoga and his tryst with ancient wisdom and the Ayurveda boom sparked by FMCG brands like Patanjali, coupled with his long-standing desire to take the entrepreneurial plunge — led to the genesis of AURIC. 

“I had always been a creator—whether in academics or extracurricular activities—constantly working on new ideas. My vision has always been to build a global brand in India for the world.  I knew that at some point, once I struck the right chord between my interests and passion, I would venture into entrepreneurship,” Agarwal said.

However, he had never anticipated that he would find his calling in Ayurveda and wellness. “Had I not suffered a backbone injury, this realisation may have never come,” the founder added. 

Agarwal said that shortly after the realisation hit him, he began researching, and after eight months, he identified three key opportunities. 

First, while people wanted to be healthy, they lacked the time and energy to maintain their wellness. Second, there was a growing distrust towards pharmaceutical companies, pushing consumers back to ancient wellness practices. 

Finally, he realised that everything from cuisine to talent was becoming a global trend, and the same was happening with yoga and Ayurveda. 

He said that he saw a huge demand for Ayurvedic ingredients, like turmeric and ashwagandha, gaining traction in the West. Therefore, he decided to strike the iron when it was hot, leading to the launch of AURIC as a D2C wellness brand in 2019. 

AURIC started with functional beverages, and today commands a folio of 20+ SKUs ranging from herbal teas to effervescent tablets. 

AURIC’s Pivot Story

Speaking with Inc42, Agarwal said he was against the idea of complicating things at the very outset and wanted to launch something easy, effective and unique. 

For this, he decided to go with global trends and found that functional beverages had a huge scope both in India and abroad. 

“Globally, functional beverages have seen major acquisitions by companies like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Nestlé, yet in India, the category has remained underdeveloped. We decided to deliver wellness through Ayurveda in a drinkable form, unlike usual wellness supplements,” the founder said.

So, he introduced the concept of “Beverages for Benefits”, blending Ayurvedic herbs with coconut water to create ready-to-drink functional beverages targeting skin radiance, men’s energy, sexual wellness, and weight management. 

This gained strong consumer traction, and the startup’s best sellers remained sexual wellness and skin radiance beverages for the first three years, the founder said. 

However, by 2022, the brand started facing challenges. The high logistics costs of transporting liquid products made it difficult to achieve profitability and expand internationally.

As a result, AURIC pivoted in 2022. “We decided to pivot from liquid supplements to dry supplements (effervescent tablets),” Agarwal said. By removing water from its formulations, the brand not only reduced logistics costs but also enhanced scalability and profitability.

“This transformed our contribution margins from -35% to +5%. This shift not only resolved unit economics challenges but also unlocked international scalability. Today, 70% of AURIC’s revenue comes from outside India,” the founder said.

Today the most selling products for the brand’s stable are its effervescent liver detox tablets and cow ghee. 

While pivoting, the founders faced another challenge. “While the global market holds immense potential for Ayurvedic products, the perception of Indian-origin brands wasn’t always favourable,” Agarwal said.

The startup handled this by reiterating to the world that the formulations are made in India, the birthplace of Ayurveda, for the world. The founder said the “Made in India” label became a strong differentiator for them.

Managing cross-border logistics has also been an ongoing challenge for AURIC, as global consumers today expect same-day or next-day deliveries. To tackle this, the startup has established multiple storage locations, enabling it to meet customer delivery expectations efficiently.

AURIC’s Road Ahead

Despite challenges, what has truly driven the brand to surpass the INR 100 Cr revenue mark in just a few years is its strong focus on the ‘less is more’ approach. 

Instead of overloading itself with too many SKUs, the brand has chosen to go deep into a select few products, prioritising refined formulations, strengthened communication, and a solid market positioning.

Another key strategy that has worked for the brand is its conscious effort to tailor its offerings and communication to international consumers. 

The real breakthrough came in 2022 when the brand decided to pivot from beverages to dry supplements. As per the founder, shutting down an entire business vertical at $3 Mn revenue was a tough call, but over the last 18 months, the transition to dry supplements has not only solved their unit economics but also created a more scalable and profitable model.

Going forward, while the brand’s focus will remain on global markets, it also aims to expand its presence in India by getting listed on quick commerce platforms like Zepto, Blinkit and Instamart. 

From the product perspective, it is experimenting with new formats and will soon be launching liver detox gummies. It is also planning to expand its sexual wellness category.

The brand also aims to strengthen its B2B segment, leveraging it for stable cash flow and recurring revenue. Some of its current B2B partnerships include supplying ghee to the largest ghee brand in the US. 

Helped by the pivot, the brand has witnessed 6X year-on-year growth from INR 18 Cr in FY24 to INR 105 Cr so far this fiscal. The change in its playbook has also helped the brand grow its user base exponentially from 15K-20K monthly to 55K-60K monthly. AURIC aims to double sales and achieve EBITDA-positive margins by FY26.

While things have just started looking up for the nearly five-year-old brand, it operates in a highly competitive and evolving Ayurvedic and wellness space dominated by giants like Kapiva, Himalaya Wellness, Dr Vaidya’s, and Goodveda, just to name a few.

For now, the key question is: How long will AURIC’s ‘less is more’ strategy hold up in the face an ever-intensifying competition?

[Edited By Shishir Parasher]