In recent years, Indian celebrities ranging from Bollywood to cricket have been involved in the Indian startup ecosystem in various roles. Consider five such celebrities and their investments.
With over 100 unicorns, India boasts the third-largest startup environment in the world. In recent years, B-Town superstars and cricketers have entered the Indian business environment. Aside from becoming brand ambassadors, these celebrities have begun to invest in startups in a variety of industries, and some have transitioned from investors to entrepreneurs.
Here is a list of celebrities that have made investments in industries such as femtech, nutrition, and sports and are contributing to India’s growth story:
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
Bengaluru-based Possible is a nutrition firm that uses experienced nutrition coaches and nutrient-dense superfoods to help individuals eat well, manage lifestyle diseases, and lose weight.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan contributed Rs 5 crore to the startup’s Pre-Series B fundraising round in January 2021. Its diet programs include a personal diet coach, a kit of superfoods every month, scientific analysis, and video lectures, and it was founded in 2015 by McKinsey colleagues Vishnu Saraf and Megha More. These services are accessible via the app.
The firm offers over 70 designed nutritious superfoods and links consumers with over 100 experienced nutrition coaches to assist them in maintaining a healthy diet and living a disease-free life. Possible claims that superfoods are created using healthful components such as moringa, millets, and spirulina, among others, and that they are supplied internationally.
Deepika Padukone
Deepika Padukone has invested in femtech firm Nua. Nua, situated in Mumbai, got $7.1 million in investment from Deepika Padukone and other investors in 2021. The D2C (direct-to-consumer) wellness company, founded in 2016 by Ravi Ramachandran, Projjol Banerjea, and Swathi Kulkarni, offers a variety of items for women, including sanitary pads, intimate wash, panty liners, and so on.
Nua provides a subscription service in which members may give the date of their previous cycle as well as the time between two periods to ensure that ladies receive their customized box of pads before their next period begins. Deepika Padukone will collaborate closely with Nua to develop health solutions, according to the business.
Anushka Sharma
Blue Tribe Foods, located in Mumbai, was created in 2019 by Nikki Arora Sigh and Sandeep Singh to produce plant-based meat products that allow people to enjoy in meat without sacrificing taste. Blue Tribe’s goods are aimed at non-vegetarians who wish to move to more ecologically friendly and healthier options without sacrificing the flavor of their favorite foods. Blue Tribe offers through a variety of channels, including D2C, retail storefronts, and fast commerce platforms such as Swiggy, Instamart, and Blinkit.
The items are presently accessible in over 600 retail and HORECA locations across the country. Blue Tribe signed actress Anushka Sharma and her husband, cricketer Virat Kohli, as brand ambassadors and investors in February 2022.
Varun Dhawan
Varun Dhawan, a Bollywood actor, has invested in Mumbai-based Fast&Up, which provides athletic performance supplements and intelligent nutrition supplements for an active lifestyle. It also sells multivitamin beverages and nutritional supplements.
The firm, founded in 2015 by Vijayaraghavan Venugopal and Varun Khanna, is also supported by some of the country’s best athletes, including Indian cricketers Mayank Agarwal and Priya Punia, as well as world champion boxer L Sarita Devi.
The six-year-old firm has grown quickly, reaching more than 100 million individuals per month. The firm secured an undisclosed investment round from actor Varun Dhawan in December 2021 to improve production capabilities, expand worldwide, and perform product development to introduce new categories.
Virat Kohli
In 2019, cricketer Virat Kohli invested an unknown sum in Delhi-based Rage Coffee. Rage Coffee, founded in 2019 by Bharat Sethi, is a D2C business that makes and sells a range of vitamin-infused, vegan-friendly instant coffee flavors. The items are sold through prominent online platforms, its own website, and over 1,000 offline touchpoints via a distributor network.
Rage Coffee says that its beans and other raw ingredients originate from all around India and the world, including Indonesia, Firozabad, Chikkamagaluru, and others. Dark Chocolate, Butterscotch Delight, Chai Latte, Irish Hazelnut, Sparky Orange, and a few additional instant coffee flavors are available.
In fiscal year 2021-22, the company claims to have expanded by 500 percent year on year.
