How Gramiyaa Is Bringing Cold-Pressed Edible Oils Back In Vogue With Its D2C Playbook

The unprecedented health challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic underscored the vital importance of a healthy lifestyle and a robust immune system. Consequently, there has been a notable increase in awareness about lifestyle choices, food ingredients, and dietary habits. People have now become more mindful of what they consume and more focussed on boosting their overall well-being.

This renewed focus on nutrition and lifestyle is also leading to the growth of new categories, including healthier cooking oil options. Consumers are increasingly scrutinising the quality and health benefits of the oils they use, driving a shift back to traditional methods of oil production.

Traditionally, edible oils have been extracted by pressing nuts or seeds in stone or wood mills. However, with the advent of technology, various varieties of factory-refined oils took over Indian kitchens. But, soon it became apparent that overly refined edible oils were doing more harm than any good.

Unlike cold-pressed oils, which are rich in good or high-density fats and full of micronutrients, refined oils are made by subjecting ingredients to high-temperature extraction, which gets rid of many beneficial fats and micronutrients.

Additionally, refined oils often require artificial flavours to compensate for the loss of natural taste and involve multiple stages of chemical treatment, including preservatives for a longer shelf life. All these things add to highly saturated low-density oils that are unhealthy in the long run.

As more and more Indians grow wary of everything they are consuming today, there is now a renewed interest in cold-pressed oils because of the numerous benefits they offer.

Spearheading this bubbling revolution within Indian households is Gramiyaa, which has been offering a wide variety of preservative-free, cold-pressed edible oils since 2017.

Founded by Sibi Manivannan, Mohamed Yaseen, and Naveen Rajamaran, Gramiyaa produces high-density quality oils from sesame, coconut, and other ingredients.

Interestingly, Gramiyaa is the brainchild of Manivannan, who incorporated the startup, along with other founders, after drawing inspiration from his family’s small business of making oils. Amid the growing consciousness for health among common Indians, the cofounder trio knew that D2C was the most effective way to reach a larger target addressable market (TAM) and make Gramiyaa a household brand.

“We began working on this product due to the ongoing D2C boom. We saw an opportunity to introduce a product of an international scale. Previously, launching something like this in a commodity space was a monumental task; scaling beyond a few stores or supermarkets in the region was nearly impossible. However, with the current medium, we found a way to launch our product. This is what motivated us to start working on it, ensuring that we have a vertically integrated manufacturing brand,” Yaseen told Inc42.

Gramiyaa’s Vertically Integrated Playbook

Gramiyaa’s manufacturing process begins with the careful procurement of raw materials directly from farmers and mandis, ensuring that only the highest quality ingredients are sourced. These raw materials are then transported to Gramiyaa’s USFDA (US Food and Drug Administration) and ISO-certified facility in Trichy, Tamil Nadu.

Once manufactured, the products are moved and stored at the startup’s micro-warehouses, which are strategically located in six metro cities, where the company also sells its products.

During the first three years of its operations, Gramiyaa began its journey offline by selling its products in PET bottles at brand outlets in Trichy. But, soon the founders realised that there was a huge demand for cold-pressed oils in metro cities and international markets.

This realisation made them pivot and adopt the D2C model. By 2020, the company was already listing its products online and had expanded into the US market, too. This strategic shift allowed it to reach a broader audience and cater to the growing demand for preservative-free, cold-pressed edible oils globally.

According to Yaseen, their 25-people manufacturing unit in Trichy today manufactures 32,000 litres of cold-pressed oil per month. In the last one year, the startup has sold more than 2.87 Lakh litres of high-quality edible oil.

Interestingly, Gramiyaa claims to have generated INR 12 Cr operating revenue in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24). A majority, around 60%, of the top line came from the Indian market while the remaining from exports. Yaseen claimed that the Bengaluru-based startup achieved breakeven last year.

Out Of The Stealth Mode

After staying in stealth mode for close to seven years now, the bootstrapped startup has finally raised INR 5 Cr ($600K) in a funding round led by Dubai-based FMCG venture fund, Homegrown Ventures. The startup has also raised INR 4.4 Cr ($528K) in debt funding from SBI.

“It aligns with our strategy because we’re looking for “better for you, better for the planet” propositions in FMCG and CPG (consumer packaged goods) products and brands. Indian cooking oil is a very sizable market with big players but lacks healthy options. This is where Gramiyaa comes in. We saw their enthusiasm for building a vertically integrated cooking oil company, which aligned with our cause,” said general partner at Homegrown Ventures Nader Amiri.

We had first written about Gramiyaa last year when we discovered it as part of Inc42’s FAST42 initiative. “We were particularly interested about startups in the FMCG sector seeking seed funding and expansion, so we utilised resources available Inc42 to identify relevant startups. Then we found Gramiyaa, Nader added.

Along with this investment, Homegrown Ventures will also help Gramiyaa to set foot in the UAE market. The fresh capital will be used for brand building and channel diversification. A chunk of these proceeds will also go towards marketing and promotions. The D2C brand also plans to explore new avenues such as quick commerce.

The company’s key focus, as of now, is to improve its distributor network for offline ethnic Indian stores in the export market. It is also working on setting up more distributors for offline stores in India.

Amid all this, it will be interesting to see how Gramiyaa grows to compete with deep-pocketed FMCG players such as Tata Simply Better and Dabur as well as new-age brands like Anveshan, in the Indian edible oil market projected to become a $5.7 Bn opportunity by 2027.