New Delhi, 14 June 2021: Nutraceutical start-up Power Gummies recently raised its second bridge round funding of approximately US$1 million at an undisclosed valuation from investors such as DSG and Pivot Ventures. The round was led by India’s fastest growing accelerator VC 9Unicorns.
Founded in 2018, the nutraceutical start-up had raised its first round of seed funding in 2019, led by venture capital firm Alfa Ventures. By early 2020, the brand had extended a pre-Series A round from DSG Consumer Partners. By mid-2020, they raised an undisclosed amount from Venture Catalysts in an extension of its pre-Series A round of funding. Besides this, the biggest brand buzz in 2021 for Power Gummies has been roping in millennial icon Shraddha Kapoor as the brand ambassador and the face of their Hair & Nails Vitamin Gummies. With this association, the brand intends to popularise its vision amongst millennials while reinforcing its values and philosophy.
As their brand mantra states, “Health Powered by Happiness and Backed by Science”, Power Gummies is revolutionising the nutraceutical industry by bringing in chewable vitamin gummies for promoting nutrition. Through this, it aims to simplify nutrition via unconventional, tastiest vitamin gummies that eliminate the fear of bad-tasting vitamin capsules. Power Gummies currently serves 200,000-plus consumers and has sold more than 3 million gummies.
Divij Bajaj, the man behind Power Gummies, promotes these products that are vegan, gluten-free, gelatin-free and crafted cruelty-free. His idea to make health fun for everyone made him shift focus to nutraceuticals, after spending a considerable part of his career in the lifestyle and education sectors. His leadership and market foresight helped the brand carve its niche. As a result, within just six months of its commercial launch, Power Gummies was ranked amongst the top three sellers across all categories on the Amazon Launchpad. It soon became prominent among celebrities, influencers and the public, thereby establishing a community of beauty and wellness loyalists.
India’s health industry is expected to grow at the highest CAGR amongst all domains. Given the current pandemic scenario, healthcare companies reported a 40-50% year-on-year sales surge as consumers are more receptive towards immunity-building products.
Elaborating on the Government’s support for the nutraceutical space, Divij Bajaj, CEO & Founder – Power Gummies, said, “The Rs15,700 crore provision for MSMEs announced in the Union Budget 2021-22 is a robust incentive to enter the healthcare products segment. Regular pills apart, consumers need reliable nutritional choices. As Power Gummies constitute a safe option, some customers have been consuming two gummies daily to ensure adequate vitamin intake.”
“Nutraceuticals products are growing in India as consumers are getting more health conscious. Consumers are looking for long-term benefits with products that would help prevent ailments as they want to avoid popping pills and medicines in general. Nutraceuticals like Powergummies are usual vitamins and proteins transformed into edible gummies that are gluten free and vegan and such innovation are attracting huge demand. We are quite optimistic about this segment that is all set to witness massive innovations in the coming months and would continue to stay invested in such preventive health products.” said Dr Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Co-Founder, 9Unicorns
Globally, gummies are revolutionizing both the West and East. Valued at US$2,864 million in 2017, the worldwide market for gummy vitamins is expected to reach US$3,804 million by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 4.8%. India remains a billion-dollar industry for nutraceutical. From the US$4.0 billion nutraceutical market, gummy vitamins account for US$3.6 million as per the International Trade Association. Comprising 70% of this market, Power Gummies are projected to grow at a month-on-month CAGR of 20%.
Functioning on a D2C business model, Power Gummies intends to launch 40-plus variants over the coming years by fostering awareness and building the right consumer base. An upcoming launch is the period pain gummies that support the menstrual health of women.
Commenting on the plans, Bajaj stated, “A healthy POWER sphere is what we are curating – offering the world a Power Portfolio of nutritional gummy variants that cater to consumer expectations while satisfying their desires and safeguarding health as well as well-being.”
About Power Gummies
Power Gummies is a New Delhi-headquartered dietary supplement brand that believes in the mantra ‘Health Powered by Happiness and Backed by Science’. Instead of capsules and pills, the Company has developed dietary supplements in chewable form. Vegan-based, gelatin-free and gluten-free with zero sugar and zero pesticides and no artificial colour, the ingredients are 100% vegetarian. The most popular variant is a tasty, blue Hair and Nail vitamins Gummies that helps restore and maintain the health of hair and nails. The product is a blend of Biotin, Zinc, Folic Acid and 10 other essential vitamins and minerals that act as a panacea for holistic nutrition needs.
About 9Unicorns
9Unicorns is India’s First Accelerator VC. It provides acceleration support & seed funding to early-stage startups. 9Unicorns provides funding of $100K – $200K per startup in the first round and may invest further $500K-$2Mn in successive rounds with its co-investors. From the idea stage to the angel stage, it supports startups across various themes & sectors.
9Unicorns’ strength & focus is on a hands-on support ecosystem for startups, beyond the capital. 9Unicorns, besides investment, opens doors to the startups for access to a wide network of successful founders, category-leaders, CXOs of large corporations, seasoned angel investors & partners of global VC funds. Every portfolio company receives acceleration support for 3 months & post-investment support for 18 months.
