Rise of ‘vegetarian’ meat in India

Good Morning,

From eggless omelettes to seekh kebabs made with soya chunks, India has had a long history of using plant-based ingredients to replicate the texture and taste of non-vegetarian food.

Several startups such as Good Dot, Imagine Meats, GreenestFoods, Urban Platter, Oh Veg, and Vegeta Gold, have now popped up in the mock meat space to tap into the rising demand for plant-based meat alternatives. 

SMBStory spoke to startups in the segment to understand what’s fuelling the industry. 

While one would expect vegan products to have a wider fan base in metros, mock meats are surprisingly gaining traction in Tier II and III cities, Suhail Sheikh, COO of home-grown plant meat brand Blue Tribe Foods told SMBStory. The startup recently onboarded celebrity couple Virat Kohli and Anuskha Sharma as its brand ambassadors. Read more. 

Editor’s Pick: Frontier Markets

In this week’s product roadmap, we feature last-mile rural distribution startup Frontier Markets, which is creating a livelihood for rural women by building a network that manages all point-of-sale transactions. 

The hybrid platform creates a phygital store driven by women, called Sahelis, connecting customers to all kinds of solutions and data collection. Through the platform, Sahelis help facilitate adoption of ecommerce for rural households, while capturing valuable customer insights. Read more. 

Startup Spotlight

Boosting businesses with conversational AI

Conversational AI refers to the automation of communication with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) and its deployment through messaging apps, virtual voice assistants, chatbots, etc.

Founded in 2016, Indore-based GenieTalk.ai is a software as a service (SaaS) startup that helps businesses build tailored and personalised AI-powered virtual assistants more often referred to as chatbots and voice bots. Read more.

News & Updates

• In the latest instalment of a saga that has become increasingly bitter, Ashneer Grover sent a letter to the BharatPe board accusing Rajnish Kumar, chairman of the board, and Bhavik Koladiya, co-founder of the company, of improper conduct.

• Backed by Ronnie Screwvala, Mukesh Bansal, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, etc, Mumbai-based edtech startup Lido Learning has reportedly shut down its operations. While Lido Learning is yet to make an official statement, it has emailed its employees relaying its closing down.

• Used car marketplace CARS24 has announced an annual ESOP buyback worth around Rs 75 crore to reward their employees. The value of total ESOP buyback to date stands at Rs ~113 crore.

• Bikaji Foods International has filed preliminary papers with markets regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for an initial public offer (IPO) estimated to be worth Rs 1,000 crore. During the IPO, certain shareholders plan to offload around 2.94 crore shares. 

• Bounce Infinity on Wednesday announced test ride dates for its consumer electric scooter, Infinity E1. In the first phase, Bounce is rolling out test rides in the following cities — Bangalore, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, and Kochi.

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

“This is a fantastic time to be entering the business world because business is going to change in the next ten years than it has in the last fifty years.”

– Bill Gates, philanthropist and chief organiser of Microsoft Corporation

Now get the Daily Capsule in your inbox. Subscribe to our newsletter today!