Shreedha Singh, Co-Founder and CEO of Ayurveda Company. She was photographed at her parents’ home in Kalanda village, Ghazipur district, Uttar Pradesh. TAC manufactures beauty and health products based on Ayurveda.Image: Madhu Kapalath
TThe commerce graduate from Punjab University was looking for help. That was in early 2021. In a year when venture capitalists were quick to cut checks and business ideas of all kinds, from the frivolous to the surprisingly unique to the potentially disruptive, were generously and lavishly funded. did.Shreeda Singh’s ayurveda company (TAC), a beauty, personal care, and wellness venture, had all the hallmarks of being classified as a third-tier “disruptor.” And the first-time founders were also confident that their contrarian strategy would bring them great success.
Why not? Until now, most Ayurvedic, herbal and natural businesses in India have straddled the extremes of being either too cheap and of highly questionable quality, or prohibitively expensive and unattractive. However, with a differentiated strategy, Ayurvedic beauty and wellness startups have identified a huge market opportunity of quality products, affordable prices, and mass market. TAC had the right ingredients to attract investors, Singh reasoned.
Well, when founders entered the funding market, the right kind of material didn’t mean much to the wrong kind of investor. Most potential backers were looking for a suitable pedigree. Unfortunately, Singh did not have the Ivy College tag. This first generation entrepreneur has completed his MBA in Human Resources (HR) from Punjab University and going back to the formative years of his education, Singh tried his hand at English during his 7th grade.Singh was born in Ghazipur, three hours from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, and spent his first few years living there. Karanda Later, due to the mobility of his father’s job in the military, he bounced around to multiple locations.
Adapting to diverse situations, confronting peers who constantly mock her simple background and bully her at school, and a hostile domestic conflict where her mother is constantly on edge due to her abusive marriage. I’ve been dealing with it…Shin was raised to be full of energy. It became clear to the young woman that the only way to change her own destiny was to work tirelessly. “I decided to script my own story,” she says.
Meanwhile, back in the pitcher’s room, the cowbelt-born founder was battling herd mentality. No one listened to her. Many investors listened intently to the story of the founder, who had a background in consulting. Shin once again failed on that front. She spent nearly four and a half years in her human resources role at Volvo and Eicher Her Motors, a joint venture with Her Motors, a non-profit organization, and Her Commercial Her Vehicles. She also worked for Bombardier for two years. She was unable to raise funds in her first few months, Singh recalls, “No one listened to me. No one gave me a chance.” To do. “I was fighting a lonely battle,” the founder added.
Back in Nashik, Maharashtra, a 14-year-old girl is fighting a war to keep her family alive. Her mother was kicked out of her home by her father along with Singh’s younger brothers. Since her survival was in danger, the teenager decided to look for her job. She was finally able to get a part-time job as a trainee at a multinational hamburger chain. For a daily wage of 26 rupees, Singh had to wait tables, mop her floors and work at the checkout counter. It’s been a month and a half since she started working, her family can barely survive, and Shin is starting to get used to her new role.
Then one fine day, fate played a cruel joke. One of her school friends found her at a burger joint and the girl felt her humiliation. “I was embarrassed because everyone at school knew that I was from the military,” Shin recalls. Feeling humiliated, she quit her job and she managed to find her a part-time job as a receptionist for 4,000 rupees a few days later. Every day was tough, with school in the morning, work in the afternoon, and homework in the evening. This ritual continued throughout her college years, early in her professional life, and in 2015, she finally separated her mother from their troubled 28-year marriage. “Seeing the joy of freedom on her face made me forget all the years of her struggles,” she says.
Four years later, towards the end of 2019, it was Singh’s turn to celebrate a different kind of freedom, as he decided to break free from corporate life. She poured all her savings, tied up her husband, developed her business and dove into her entrepreneurship. Khadi essentials, a beauty and wellness brand located on the luxury side of Ayurveda. However, the impetus was rooted in Shin’s daily life, where she had been battling hives, a chronic skin disease, for four years. After trying various medicines including her homeopathy, allopathy and naturopathy, Singh found relief at an Ayurvedic clinic in Kochi, Kerala.
The solution turned out to be an opportunity. Shin explains. The perception of Ayurvedic wellness products in the market has been towards beauty and personal care. “I wanted to create something comprehensive that was clinically based and results-oriented,” she says. Khadi essentials There were promising intentions. But the freedom to disrupt markets did not last long. Four months later, the pandemic uprooted lives, businesses, and plans. For Shin, the chaos turned out to be a blessing. She decided to go back to her drawing board, ditch the luxury positioning and reach a wider audience with a diverse product set. And after a year and a half, she Khadi essentials Transformed into TAC.
This time, Mr. Singh got off to an optimistic start. Despite considerable skepticism from potential investors, clinically proven Ayurveda was a known concept in the country, but no brand occupied that space. TAC has found backers from Wipro Consumer Care Ventures, Sixth Sense Ventures, Trifecta Capital and Alteria. Capital and Strides Ventures have pumped in a combined Rs 115 crore into the venture so far. The growth is encouraging. Operating revenue was Rs 12.7 billion, but in the next financial year it jumped to Rs 40 billion. “TAC currently has a revenue of Rs 150 crore in FY24,” Singh claims. Losses rose from Rs 2.7 billion in FY22 to Rs 1 billion in FY23, but Singh said things were under control and all consumer product companies needed to invest a lot of money and invest before turning a profit. I think it is necessary to go through a natural cycle that takes a considerable amount of time. Moving on to the profit recording stage.
Meanwhile, supporters are elated by the promising beginnings. Mr. Singh pointed out that Mr. Sumit Keshan, Managing Partner of Wipro Consumer Care Ventures, has deep understanding and insight in the Ayurveda and wellness space. “What worked for them was the right range of products and an affordable price point,” he says, adding that the move away from luxury positioning and toward mass appeal with high-quality formulations has rapidly propelled the company. He added that the company has grown at a fast pace. He emphasizes that founders who come from small towns are better at seeing the big picture and identifying a larger total addressable market (TAM). “The co-founders fulfilled the need of having a popular and affordable Ayurvedic brand in the country,” he believes.
Meanwhile, Singh plans to roll out smaller packs and a differentiated strategy for Bharat. The idea is not only to meet the aspirations of millions of people, but also to reach out to them with effective products. “Ayurveda, health and wellness should be for everyone, not just a select few,” says the founder. “TAC is powerful,” she said.
