[Funding alert] Ayurvedic brand AADAR raises $250K led by Sprout Venture Partners

Mumbai-based Ayurveda wellness and lifestyle consumer brand AADAR has raised $250,000 in a seed round of funding led by Sprout Venture Partners and angels from LetsVenture.

JITO Angel Network also participated in the funding round. The startup also counts Syed Safawi (Ex-CEO, VLCC Health Care Limited) amongst its early-stage investors. 

Aadil Shah, CEO and Founder of AADAR, said, 

“AADAR as a brand aims to bring in high levels of transparency around its products to gain more and more consumer trust. Furthermore, we aim to remain direct-to-consumer and predominantly digital in our distribution strategy. We will use the fund raise to strengthen our footprint and product portfolio.” 

Going ahead, the startup plans to expand into daily supplements, sexual wellness, menstrual wellness as a focus area, amongst others. 

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AADAR is focussed on developing health and wellness products for common but chronic ailments and lifestyle segments through the age-old scientifically proven knowledge. It operates in the “Ayurveda-inspired” preventive healthcare space and offers herb-based products to curb lifestyle ailments such as protein deficiencies, blood sugar, indigestion, cholesterol, and obesity. 

AADAR was founded in 2018 by IIT-B alumnus Aadil Shah, who had earlier started Manch, an ed-tech venture that was sold to Toppr in 2016. He was soon joined with fellow IIT-B alumnus and a former investment banker Pratul Mangal, and the two began working on authentic age-old Ayurveda formulations. 

The brand claims that all its products are unique, effective, 100 percent natural, and cruelty-free. The process ensures all products are thoroughly tested for metals and pesticide contamination and are AYUSH FDCA certified. The products are available on digital platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Pharmeasy, 1MG, as well as its own website. 

Sahil Gupta from Sprout Venture Partners added, 

“We have been actively looking at the Ayurveda space. AADAR has a selective portfolio of products with strong efficacy targeting the major lifestyle ailments that have seen a rise with changing lifestyles.” 

Sprout Venture Partners, co-founded by Sunil Jain and Sahil Gupta, is an early-stage VC fund investing into product technology companies and consumer brands at seed and Pre-Series A stage. Founded in 2017, it has built a portfolio including companies like Absentia, Goals101, Trell, HealthFin, Fitso and Advantage Club. 

(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)

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