[Funding alert] Health food brand ‘And Nothing Else’ raises seed funding led by Matrix Partners India

And Nothing Else (ANE), a Mumbai-based 100 percent clean-label food brand aiming to rebuild the world’s trust in food, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Matrix Partners India.

The round also saw participation from Sauce.vc (a consumer-focused, early-stage VC fund) and a clutch of angel investors including Shashwat Sharma (CMO, Airtel), Jaydeep Barman (Founder, Rebel Foods), and Ankush Gera (Founder, Junglee Games).

Commenting on how they planned to use the funds, Shashank Mehta, Founder, ANE, said, 

“People and Manufacturing. This fundraise allows us to do these two fundamental things right. It allows us to hire a great bunch of people who are passionate about our mission, and it allows us to build our own manufacturing capability. Most brands, nowadays, source the same, standard products from a few common third-party manufacturers, and then just label and sell. But, at ANE, we’re trying to make something so unique, that we couldn’t trust the making in anyone else’s hands.”

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Founded by the ex-Unilever marketeer, the startup claims it makes 100 percent clean-label food products, which means that each and every ingredient that goes into an ANE product is listed on the front of the pack. Consumers don’t need to turn the pack to read a long and tedious list of ingredients, written in extremely small font.

According to ANE, it doesn’t use any added sugar, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, or flavoring and coloring agents. The products are made with just a few simple, homely ingredients, and nothing else, it says.

Shares Shashank,

“It all started with a simple question for us — what is healthy food? Is it ‘no sugar added’, or ‘low carb’ or ‘high in good fats’? Or, is it ‘keto’ or ‘paleo’ or ‘vegan’? Having travelled the world and personally tried every fitness fad out there, we found only one universal truth ⁠— good food is made of good ingredients and nothing else. ANE is our attempt at bringing this food philosophy alive.”

Shashank has spent eight years in Unilever across various functions including sales, account management, and marketing. He’s also spent two years as an entrepreneur in residence at Rebel Foods. A fitness enthusiast, Shashank writes about his approach to health on his blog, fitshit.in. While Shashank manages marketing and business development at ANA, Rachna Aggarwal acts as Head of Product.

"This is our fourth investment in the better-for-you F&B space and adds to our growing portfolio of new-age consumer brands. We are privileged to partner with Shashank on this journey of building India’s most-trusted health food brand," said Sanjot Malhi, VP and Consumer Sector Lead, Matrix India.

(Edited by Athirupa Geetha Manichandar)

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