Food brand Happy Jars has raised a seed round of Rs 3 crore, led by Inflection Point Ventures. It is the 8th deal for 2021 of IPV, which is likely to invest Rs 155 crore this year across 60 plus startups.
Founded in 2016, by couple Surabhi Talwar and Vikram Sekhar in their home kitchen, Happy Jars has now scaled nationally, and has acquired 1% market share of the Indian peanut butter market, standing at Rs 250 crore, the company said in a release.
Happy Jars offers natural peanut butters in unique flavours. It sells online across all major ecommerce sites as well as in over 200 retail stores in Delhi/NCR.
The funds raised will be used to launch new flavours, scale operations, build brand awareness and expand distribution to Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities, including Mumbai and Bengaluru.
Happy Jars has its own manufacturing unit based in Delhi. Its unsweetened peanut butter is made with pure nuts, with no hidden ingredients. All its products are vegan and gluten-free, without any oils or preservatives, the release added.
Inflection Point Ventures Founder and CEO Vinay Bansal said, “As health and immunity take centre stage in our lives, customers are making their choices clear. They want rich nutrition and low-in-sugar food options.”
“Happy Jars is meeting these expectations and the impact of this trend is showing the way forward for brands who are true to their ethos. We found their approach of entering one category – Nut Butter in this case and rolling out various flavours while retaining nutritional value of the ingredients an attractive proposition to invest in,” he added.
Happy Jars Co-founder Surabhi Talwar said, “At Happy Jars, we focus on making products that are so delicious that you’ll eat them every day. Our natural, good-for-you ingredients ensure that you’re eating the right things, and this combination is the magic behind a healthy lifestyle.”
Happy Jars is available across retail stores in Delhi NCR and all leading e-commerce portals including Amazon, BigBasket, Milkbasket, Swiggy and GOQii. The brand serves about 1 lakh customers every year, and is operationally profitable.
Among its target audience, Happy Jars is already a category leader with a 30% market share in modern trade stores with a loyal repeat customer base. The business grew 200% during the pandemic and is growing at CAGR 6 times the category.
Happy Jars range includes a Dark Chocolate Almond Butter with 74% less sugar than regular chocolate spreads, and a Chilli Chutney savoury peanut butter, for popular Indian breakfasts like poha, dosa, parantha and eggs on toast. Its new product pipeline includes healthy confectionary (to be launched in April), oat-based products and rice-based snacks.
