Actor Varun Dhawan invests undisclosed quantity in diet model Quick&Up

0
457

Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan has invested an undisclosed amount in the D2C nutraceutical startup Fast & Up. The 34-year-old actor was recently named Good Vibes Officer, and the startup has teamed up with well-known table tennis player Sharath Kamal Achanta and boxer Pooja Rani.

Image source: Social Nation

The company said in a statement it wants to expand its manufacturing capabilities and scale internationally, as well as enter newer categories. It has aggressively sought to invest in product research to fuel the growth of a leading, longevity-focused daily nutrition brand, and plans to move into newer categories.

Venugopal, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Fast & Up, commented on the development with the words: “We are delighted to welcome Varun and his interest in the fitness sector to our Fast & Up family. We have him as our Good Vibes Officer and we love the energy he brings to the brand. We are very pleased that this partnership will be further strengthened with his participation in Fast & Up. “

The development came just over a week after Fullife Healthcare, the parent company of Fast & Up, secured a $ 22 million Series C financing round from Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia (MSPEA). It had previously raised $ 6.6 million (~ 50 billion rupees) from Akash Prakash of Amansa Capital with the participation of existing investors Sixth Sense Ventures and Rakesh Jhunjhunwala.

Fast & Up was founded in 2015 by Vijayaraghavan Venugopal and Varun Khanna and offers nutritional supplements and multivitamin drinks. It makes products for active living, including nutrition and immunity, in several segments. Chicnutrix, the other big brand from Fullife, is a wellness, beauty, and nutrition brand that focuses exclusively on women.

The six-year start-up has attracted more than 100 million customers in just one month. Last year, 20 new products were introduced, which resulted in a 100 percent increase in sales compared to the previous year. Fast & Up has a presence across India and its products are sold through an omnichannel structure that focuses on direct-to-consumer (D2C), marketplaces, including retail.

In related news, Mosaic Wellness, a health and wellness platform, secured $ 1.25 million from Spring Marketing Capital earlier this month. Similarly, Mother Sparsh Baby Care, an Ayurvedic and all-natural personal care brand for direct consumers (D2C), last month raised Rs 20 crore (~ $ 2.6 million) in funding from hotel-to-cigarette giant ITC Ltd .

Bollywood celebrities have made significant investments in the startup ecosystem as an extension of their branding strategy. Actors Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhat, who have invested in recently listed Nykaa (FSN E-Commerce Ventures), are seeing a healthy surge in their investments amid Nykaa’s spectacular IPO.

The nutraceutical industry has grown rapidly amid the pandemic. According to ASSOCHAM, the nutraceutical industry in India was valued at $ 4 billion in 2017 and is expected to grow at an annual rate of 35 percent to $ 18 billion by 2026, from 120 million health-conscious customers by next year, more than half comes from other metros and tier 1 cities.