INDIA —Indian consumer nutrition platform HealthKart has raised US$135 million in a new financing round as it looks to expand in international markets and shore up cash to buy firms.
Temasek led the Gurgaon-headquartered firm’s Series H funding, valuing the 11-year-old startup at about US$350 million, with participation from homegrown venture capital firms A91 Partners and Kae Capital.
The startup, which also counts Sequoia India, Sofina, and IIFL among its backers, has raised about US$225 million to date, according to market research firm Tracxn.
HealthKart, which sells protein supplements and health accessories, said it is currently on track to generate over US$122 million in annual revenue.
“Driving fitness and preventive health by addressing the nutritional gaps is a systemic trend, which is taking off in a big way in India. With HealthKart’s R&D capabilities and omnichannel distribution infrastructure, we are excited to lead the way,” said Sameer Maheshwari, founder and chief executive of HealthKart, in a statement.
The startup said it will deploy the fresh funds to expand its offline presence and also scale its operations in international markets. The omnichannel nutrition retailer currently operates over 140 stores across 50 Indian cities.
HealthKart said its products are used by over a million consumers monthly and are distributed across channels like its website healthkart.com, other D2C websites, offline grocers/chemists, over 140 HealthKart offline stores, and other eCommerce and quick commerce platform.
HealthKart said it has an annual revenue run rate of over Rs 1,000 crore (US$121 billion) with brands like MuscleBlaze, a sports nutrition brand, and HKVitals, an online health supplement brand.
The company claimed while MuscleBlaze owns a 25 percent market share of India’s sports nutrition market, HKVitals has a 20 percent share of the online health supplement market.
“HealthKart is India’s only vertically focused D2C nutrition platform. It aims to bridge the nutritional needs of the ever-expanding health-conscious India. Sameer and the HealthKart team have established strong awareness and customer trust with marquee brands,” said Neeraj Shrimali, executive director, Digital and Technology Investment Banking at Avendus Capital.
In 2015, Healthkart’s generic drug search business HealthkartPlus was spun off and renamed 1MG – one of the newly minted unicorns of 2022. Since then, Healthkart and 1MG have been operating as separate entities.
Tata Digital acquired majority stakes in 1MG at a valuation of over US$400 million last year.
Per AstuteAnalytica India Pvt. Ltd, global sports nutrition market was valued at US$15.7 billion in 2021, and is projected to surpass the valuation of US$23.8 billion by 2030 at a CAGR of 4.8% during the forecast period, 2022–2030.
Growing demand for sports nutrition has created a booming industry for those who can provide the necessary supplements and food products, with so many people interested in competitive sports.
For all the latest healthcare industry news from Africa and the World, subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, and YouTube Channel, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, and like us on Facebook.
