Venture Catalysts Invests Seed Funding in Roasted Super Snacks Brand Keeros

Venture Catalysts, India’s integrated incubator is on a mission to identify stellar businesses and facilitate their growth for the overall evolution of the Indian business landscape. On the same trajectory, it has now invested in the seed funding round of what is one of the most promising and popular roasted super snack brands in the country – Keeros. With this round of capital infusion, Keeros, has inched many miles closer to its vision of launching a mega range of delicious and healthful super snacks, super foods and super drinks and of ultimately becoming one of the top FMCG brands to reckon with in the country.
The key committed investors in this round of funding included – H.S. Saberwal, Global IT Head – Quantitative Hedge Fund, New York; Ravinder Singh – National IT head for NETS AS, Norway; Saurav Dasgupta, Global head of Treasury & Liquidity, Trans-Fast Remittance, Dubai; Sandeep Jain, President – Gemcolorz Group, New York; SandeepZutshi – Former CEO, Sri Lanka & Ex-India Sales head,  Britannia Foods; Rekha Singh, Co-Founder –  Divine Life Ayurveda, Lucknow.
What differentiates Keeros from any other player in the market is its emphasis on incorporating super foods into its products, keeping them diabetic-friendly and absolutely free of preservatives, additives and harmful processing. The fact each of the products in its range tastes supremely delicious and eliminates the thought that ‘healthy snacks cannot be tasty’, further makes it the perfect addition to Venture Catalysts’ highly diverse and successful investment portfolio. Keeros’ current product repertoire includes the Multi-Seed Supersnack and the Multi-Grain Supersnack.
Speaking on this round of funding, Dr. Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, Co-Founder and President of Venture Catalysts said, “In India, there is a huge market gap when it comes to healthy snacking, especially for diabetic patients. While people are able to organise and manage their meals, they find themselves with very few convenient, cost-effective and genuinely healthy snacking options. Keeros is poised to disrupt this scheme of things and capture a sizeable share of the INR 15,000 crore healthy snacking segment with its safe and tasty Superfood-based snacks. It is already the no.1 player in its category on Amazon and is quickly growing towards becoming a household brand name with a presence in 10,000+ outlets in top 30 cities across India, with a projected turnover of INR 102 crore in the next 3 years. We are really pleased to add it to our investment portfolio and be a part of its growth story as it unfolds in the country.”
Keeros has been on a shining growth path since inception thanks to its unique recipe that helps maintain the nutrition of seeds and grains. Its premium packaging further adds to the allure of its products, giving it massive traction across both online and offline channels. Much of this success can be attributed to its richly experienced founding team comprising its CEO and Founder, SachinSahni and Co-founder Simran Sahni. While Sachin is an FMCG & Health-Fitness industry veteran, Simran is a certified nutritionist with 15+ years of experience in the health and wellness industry.
Speaking on raising seed funding from Venture Catalysts, Sachin Sahni, Founder & CEO, Keeros said, “As an early-stage consumer brand, the fact that an incubator as prestigious as Venture Catalysts has shown faith in our products and business is a massive boost to us. We have received great traction so far, selling about 55,000 units since October 2017 and with this round of capital infusion we are on track to launch more products and capture a greater share of the high-potential healthy snacking segment in India. More than the funds, we are also thrilled to be able to leverage the deep business expertise of the Venture Catalysts’ team which will surely hold us in great stead as we embark upon the next stage of our brand’s evolution.”
Keeros is already available in more than 230 retail outlets in Lucknow and Kanpur and it launched in Delhi-NCR in December. The brand has tied up with a modern technology led distribution house in Delhi which has a vast network of 500+ A class outlets It has partnerships with top retail companies including Big Bazaar, 24X7, Modern Bazaar and Le Marche amongst others. Keeros is present across all major e-commerce marketplaces and the online channel comprises 30% of Keeros’ overall sales figure. Keeros has also tied up with Boxy-Bites, a corporate snacks supplier with associations across 100+ organisations. The brand also receives great traction in minibars of hotels such as Hyatt and Piccadilly as well as a corporate gifting option from large companies like Reliance Insurance and Aditya Birla Group. With an impressive 60% conversion rate from in-store sampling across Lucknow, Ludhiana, Bangalore, Gurgaon and Indore, Keeros is quickly making its way into the hearts and snack boxes of a growing population of health-conscious Indians.
On the back of such bourgeoning popularity and presence, it won the prestigious “Startup of the Year” title in February 2018 from Lucknow Management Association (An AIIMA body) and also received the UP Brand Leadership award in September this year. Its success story has also been covered across major media including being featured by ET Now in its ‘Leaders of Tomorrow’ programme. With Venture Catalysts’ backing, the start-up is sure to gain even more momentum and scale in the coming days.