Bettrlabs is building an AI-powered R&D platform for consumer product innovation
Bengaluru-based deeptech startup Bettrlabs is digitising product development for consumer brands, helping them move from idea to formulation faster without investing heavily in physical labs.
When JP Mohanty first saw how long it takes consumer goods companies to develop a new product, he was stunned.
It took months of experimentation across multiple laboratories, along with significant investment in infrastructure. In an era increasingly shaped by digital tools and artificial intelligence, the timeframe seemed absurd.
This realisation led him to launch Bettrlabs last year with Ravinkumar S, Prathap Raj and Beena Rai.
The deeptech startup is building an AI-powered R&D operating system for physical consumer goods. The platform aims to streamline one of the most fragmented processes in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and consumer packaged goods (CPG) industries: product development.
“During my time working at other agritech companies, I noticed that while India wanted to convert low-value crops into high-value ‘premiumised’ products (such as turning potatoes into expensive processed goods), there was a lack of innovation skills and specific formulations available in the country to do so. We wanted to change that,” Mohanty tells YourStory.
The founding members of the Bengaluru-based startup are CEO Mohanty, COO Ravinkumar, CTO Raj, and CSO Rai.
Digitising the physical lab
At its core, Bettrlabs is designed to replicate many functions traditionally performed in physical laboratories. The platform allows companies to identify ingredients, create product formulations, and conduct regulatory checks digitally, helping brands move quickly towards manufacturing without spending crores of rupees on building in-house labs.
“This enables brands to innovate without spending heavily on physical laboratory infrastructure,” says Mohanty.
The platform's AI stack features a proprietary ‘deformulator’, which reverse-engineers existing products and an ‘ingredient passport’ that analyses thousands of parameters associated with specific ingredients.
For large enterprises, the platform provides tools such as gap analysis and concept blueprints, helping innovation teams identify opportunities for new products. Smaller brands, meanwhile, use the system to experiment with ingredient swaps and navigate regulatory frameworks such as Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and the US Food and Drug Administration.
The goal is to dramatically reduce product development timelines. Traditionally, building a new consumer product can take up to seven months. Bettrlabs claims its platform can shorten that process to between 30 and 90 days.
Beyond formulation, the system also offers continuous services, such as monitoring competitor pricing and providing clinical evidence to support product claims.
The startup has a team of 18 people and operates through two laboratories in Chennai and Mumbai. These facilities are third-party labs that Bettrlabs is in the process of acquiring. The company is also incubated by IIT Madras.
Bettrlabs has onboarded 330 clients, including health-tech platform Deep Holistics, home food app Cookr, and food products brand Nourisho. The platform offers a free plan and paid subscriptions starting at Rs 14,999 per month.
Tackling a fragmented innovation process
Bettrlabs primarily works with brands across four segments: wellness and supplements, functional foods and nutrition, food platforms, and FMCG innovation.
Across these categories, Mohanty says the fundamental challenge remains the same: Product innovation is often slow, fragmented, and “too dependent on institutional knowledge” held by individuals rather than systems.
Meanwhile, the industry itself is undergoing a shift. Consumers now have easy access to online information, making it harder for brands to rely on marketing claims without credible backing.
“We’ve reached a point where customers are not easily fooled anymore because they have instant access to the internet to verify claims. Consequently, brands are searching for tech platforms that can provide data-backed evidence. This industry shift explains why we’ve seen such strong organic growth,” says Mohanty.
While Bettrlabs is positioning itself as an early mover in India’s digital space, Mohanty notes that the market in the United States is more mature.
Funding and expansion plans
So far, Bettrlabs has raised Rs 1.5 crore as initial investment, which includes Mohanty’s personal money as well as capital from friends and family. The startup is now preparing to raise $1.3 million in fresh funding.
The founder says the capital will primarily be used to expand the company’s marketing team and establish a presence in the US by late-May.
In the longer term, Bettrlabs plans to expand beyond its current focus on CPG and FMCG.
“While we are currently zeroed in on the CPG and FMCG sectors due to their inherent complexity, we plan to venture into categories such as pet care, and toys market, where we can provide AI-generated blueprints for manufacturers. We also want to expand our digital lab suite,” says Mohanty.
Competing in a complex ecosystem
Bettrlabs operates in a space that has multiple layers of competitors. On one side are market intelligence platforms such as NielsenIQ, while on the other there are regulatory and compliance players like FoodChain ID.
But Mohanty stresses that Bettrlabs differentiates itself by connecting insights directly to product development workflows.
“We provide workflow intelligence. We take market insights forward into actual product briefs and formulation workflows,” he says.
Ultimately, he believes the biggest competition is not a single company but the traditional, fragmented way the industry has long approached product development.
Edited by Swetha Kannan