Passionate entrepreneurs willing to pivot their business models to match the changing business scenario and customer requirements have the right recipe for success. This has been proved by the inspiring journey of Aarti Gill and Mihir Gadani, co-founders of the plant-based nutrition and wellness brand Oziva.
India’s health and wellness market is expected to show a CAGR of 5.55% during 2023-2028, a report by IMARC Group states. One venture aiming to garner a big share of this market is Oziva, a range of plant-based wellness and health products.
The D2C venture (Zywie Ventures) offering these plant-based products was taken over by the FMCG giant Hindustan Lever in December 2022. The co-founders continue to run the business while HUL will have a representative on the company’s board. The FMCG giant will also provide the necessary support to scale up operations.
Successful Pivots by Oziva
The most important thing an entrepreneur should understand is the call to pivot.
The co-founders’ love for healthy and active living made them launch an app-FitCircle, that offered nutrition suggestions and marathon training guidance. The app that was launched in 2014 also provided diet consultations to the enrolled members. Although the app was received well, its users were finding it difficult to implement the recommendations provided online in their daily lives.
Realising that it was difficult to scale up this model, Aarti and Mihir decided to pivot and shift their focus from a services-oriented business to a product-based business. Consequently, they launched Oziva in 2016 to offer plant-based nutritional products that helped consumers replace supplements with artificial ingredients, chemicals, and even preservatives.
Another pivot by the founders was to shift its focus from only nutrition-related products to offerings for overall consumer wellness and health.
Offering Clean, Plant-Based Nutrition and Wellness Products
Starting with one protein and herb drink, the venture now offers over 15 products across various categories including fitness and nutrition products for men, women, and kids besides skin and Oziva hair products. even offers a special supplement for girls/women suffering from PCOS.
Oziva started by selling its products through the digital medium and once it gained recognition, opted for sale through retailers too. The venture has built a loyal customer base who are happy with the products. While 50% of its sales are through the company’s own website, the rest comes from major e-commerce sites.
Financials
The venture which registered a five-fold growth between FY20 and FY22 reported a 20% drop in its operations in FY23. The company’s revenues contracted to Rs 99.32 crore in FY23. Tight control on the marketing expenses allowed Oziva to reduce its losses by 31% to Rs 45.68 crore in FY23 from Rs 66.5 crore in FY22.
Funds Raised
Oziva has raised funds in two rounds. While it secured $5 million in a series A funding round with participation from Matrix Partners and Titan Capital in June 2020, it raised another $12 million in series B funding. The new round was led by Eight Roads Ventures with participation from Matrix Partners and F-Prime Capital.
