Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<ul><li>Actress <keyword id="598" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Deepika-Padukone">Deepika Padukone</keyword> has invested an undisclosed amount in Drum Foods International, the company that produces <keyword id="2818965" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Epigamia">Epigamia</keyword>. </li><li>The investment is a part of the series C round raised by Epigamia, which included dairy giant Danone.</li><li>Padukone has made the investment through her family office KA Enterprise.</li></ul>Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone has made another bet as a <keyword id="138263" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="startup">startup</keyword> investor, making an undisclosed amount of investment in Drum Foods International – the company behind the popular yogurt brand Epigamia. Epigamia, with the investment from Padukone, plans to accelerate its growth. <a href="https://www.livemint.com/companies/start-ups/deepika-padukone-invests-in-maker-of-epigamia-yogurt-1557771851043.html">Reports</a> say that the company will now expand its distribution to 50,000 outlets in over 25 cities. The 11-year old company that sells a line of greek yogurt and smoothies has made its way into people’s homes and is today considered as one of the premier brands for dairy products in India. Drums Food was founded by Rohan Mirchandani, chef Ganesh Krishnamurthy, Rahul Jain, and Uday Thakkar. Epigamia had made news in <a href="https://www.livemint.com/Money/Ui3XyVQv4WFSLP3authHTL/Maker-of-Epigamia-yogurt-gets-fresh-funding-from-Danones-in.html">January</a>, not just because it raised over $25 million in a Series C investment, but also because it raised the funding from Danone Manifesto Ventures, the investment of the dairy giant Danone. This had come in after Danone exited its dairy business in India. Padukone’s investment is a part of the same Series C raise. However, according to <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/bollywood-diva-dons-investor-hat/articleshow/69315671.cms">reports</a>, it is not Padukone’s first investment in the Indian startup industry. The actress, through her family office KA enterprise, had earlier invested in the furniture rental company Furlenco and beauty marketplace Purplle. Padukone joins the long list of Bollywood celebrities who have turned to actively invest in startups in India. From Aamir Khan to Suniel Shetty or even Malaika Arora, Bollywood celebrities have started to look at startups as an alternate investment option. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/bollywood-star-suniel-shetty-invests-in-fitness-startup-squats/articleshow/69268173.cms">Suniel Shetty makes another bet on the Indian startup industry – invests in fitness startup SQUATS</a>

Deepika Padukone joins long list of Bollywood celebs to invest in startups – and her bet is on Greek yogurt

Mumbai, Jan 13 () Global investor Goldman Sachs-backed online beauty and personal care platform Purplle.com on Monday said it has raised USD 8 million (around Rs 56 crore) from Belgium-based investment firm Verlinvest in series-C funding round.
 This new fundraising follows the USD 30 million capital infused by few investors including the US-based Goldman Sachs, IvyCap Ventures, Blume Ventures and JSW Ventures in December 2019.
 "The funding from Verlinvest will be utilised to further strengthen Purplle's supply chain, innovation and technology capabilities as well as for brand building," Purplle.com said in a statement.
 Verlinvest has over 1.6 billion euro of assets under management and its Indian portfolio includes brands such as BYJU'S, Sula Wines, Epigamia, Veeba Foods and Future Consumer.
 "This investment aligns with our intent of creating a sustainable multi-decade enterprise," Purplle.com co-founder and CEO Manish Taneja said.
 Launched in 2012, the company had raised USD 10 million over the past six years.
 Verlinvest India Head of Investments Arjun Anand said, "We believe consumer preferences are changing rapidly with online penetration in this space and Purplle has great momentum to delight Indian consumers."
 IndigoEdge acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Purplle.com in the fund raise, the release said. PSK HRS

Online personal care platform Purplle.com raises USD 8 million in funding

New Delhi, Apr 20 () Non-profit body The Akshaya Patra Foundation on Monday said it has already served over 2 crore meals to vulnerable communities like migrant workers and homeless people affected due to the lockdown imposed to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. As on April 17, the Foundation has cumulatively served 2,19,44,385 meals which include 93,57,839 freshly cooked meals and 3,02,541 food relief kits (1,25,86,546 meal servings) to people in need in various locations across India, an official statement said. The relief feeding endeavour has been initiated in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Delhi and NCR, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. "We have been able to serve over 2 crore meals to people in need during these difficult times due to the collaborative efforts of everyone involved," The Akshaya Patra Foundation Chairman Madhu Pandi Dasa said and thanked everyone for the donation. "I sincerely hope that the situation will improve soon and people will be able to get back to their day-to-day life. Until then, we will continue our efforts to serve as many people as possible," he added. The Foundation said it is using its kitchen network to prepare the meals and deliver them to the centres assigned by the authorities. Simultaneously, packaging centres have been set up in various locations across the country where food relief kits are packed with essential groceries based on the local palate. The kits to be distributed in Bangalore, for instance, contain rice, tur dal, oil, spices, sambar and rasam powder, and vegetables which are known to have a long shelf-life, such as potatoes and pumpkins. Each kit has groceries sufficient for either 42 or 28 meals, it said. In this endeavour, the Foundation said it has been supported by proactive corporate partners and individual donors. For instance, Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy and his family contributed Rs 10 crore from their personal funds toward Akshaya Patra's COVID-19 relief work. Their generous donation has enabled the Foundation to distribute 1.33 lakh food relief kits, which are equivalent to 55,86,000 meals, it said. Several corporate houses, such as the Biocon Foundation, Capgemini, CISCO, Coca–Cola, CLP, Deutsche Bank, DLF Foundation, Goldman Sachs, Gland Pharmaceuticals, HT Parekh Foundation, Hero Moto Corp, Infosys Foundation, LG Electronics, Morgan Stanley, Nestle India, PepsiCo Foundation, Sarojini Trust, Texas Instruments, Vedanta, Vivo, Walmart and many others, have come forward to contribute to the relief feeding endeavour. The Foundation further said it has also received in-kind support for the endeavour with General Mills (Mumbai) donating cookies and cakes for distribution in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Noida, Britannia donating around 20,000 packs of 'Good Day' biscuits to be distributed in Bangalore, and Epigamia donating 17,000 premium yoghurt cups for distribution in Bangalore and Ahmedabad. Similarly, Bollywood personalities, such as Hrithik Roshan and Raveena Tandon, have also donated to the Foundation's efforts. Also supporting the Foundation are motivated volunteers who have selflessly come forward at this hour of need. These include volunteering groups, such as Inspiring Indians and Corona Warriors, as well as corporate volunteers from organisations such as the Infosys Foundation and Biocon. LUX HRS

Akshaya Patra serves over 2 cr meals to lockdown-hit vulnerable people

<ul><li>The skin in the game marketing capital firm aims at helping disruptive startup founders on their marketing journey.</li><li>The agency has already worked with 17 brands including Byju’s, Cars24, Epigamia.</li><li>The Spring team is currently formed of around 25 professionals from varied fields</li><li>Spring is looking at investing $1-2 million each on 15 startups within the next three years.</li></ul>Earlier this year, <keyword id="6616448" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Raja-Ganapathy">Raja Ganapathy</keyword>, former Chief Marketing Officer of Sequoia Capital India, <keyword id="185767" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Arun-Iyer">Arun Iyer</keyword>, ex-chairman of Lowe Lintas and <keyword id="321816" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vineet-Gupta">Vineet Gupta</keyword>, ex-group Chief Executive of DDB Mudra came together to form what they like to call a skin in the game marketing capital firm, <keyword id="7223115" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Spring-Marketing-Capital">Spring Marketing Capital</keyword>. Nine months down the line, the trio has already worked with an impressive roster of new-age disruptors, 17 to be precise, which includes brands like Byju’s, Cars24, Epigamia. Spring had already reached its target that it had set for the year, within its first six months of existence. Along with the three founders, the Spring team currently is formed of around 25 professionals from varied fields. Interestingly, most of them had already quit their previous jobs and come on board, even before the organization had a formal name, and even before they had received their offer letters. It is perhaps this eclectic bunch of professionals from varied backgrounds who have helped give the organization an edge, making it very different from other agencies out there. “It's very difficult to break down our organization into departments. It's almost like we are a bunch of 25 consultants, each specializing in certain fields, working together, which makes us unique. We are different from other agencies, in fact, we would fail terribly if we tried and behaved like an agency,” says Iyer with a smile. How it all came together It was almost two and a half years ago when Iyer and Ganapathy first discussed the idea that was fine-tuned over numerous weekends. Gupta came on board a year back and things slowly started falling in place. “The first idea that we discussed two and a half years back is nowhere close to where we are today, as typically what happens at any startup. It's only last year after Vineet came on board and we devoted a year of weekends to this task that the idea firmed up,” shares Ganapathy. Iyer has been a part of the advertising world for over 20 years, 16 of them were spent in Lowe Lintas. For the last six years out of the 20, he was the Chief Creative Officer and the Chairman of the company. So what prompted him to take the leap? “What helped me personally, is that by the end of it, I didn’t feel like I was learning anything new and growing. That hunger coupled with my interactions with Raja, Vineet and all the people who have come on board really helped me take that leap,” he says. For all three of them, a lot of the charm of the idea lay in the fact that they would be an intrinsic part of a new-age brand’s journey that was endeavoring to disrupt the segment. “While I was doing some parts of what I am doing here at Sequoia too, there I wasn’t able to see the entire journey. There, I was involved in problem identification, the business strategy and the go-to market and then someone like an Arun or Vineet would take over. Despite being a part of the process, I wasn’t in the room. Today, our involvement with these companies is far deeper. I’ve been working with Byju’s since 2015, but this year’s Disney campaign has been really special.” Agreeing to Ganapathy, Gupta adds, “There’s a huge difference in being able to solve a problem as an outsider and an insider. The way our previous organizations and relationships were structured, you were seen as an outsider. These brands actually see our entire team as an insider and they know we have their best interest, and that makes a lot of difference.” Spring’s Modus Operandi Having worked with close to 17 brands already, Spring is on a roll. However, the unique structure of the organization gives it an edge. It calls itself a marketing consulting firm with an investment arm. Spring works closely with founders and helps them on their marketing journey. They will also invest in these startups in their Series A or pre Series A stage. However, they will be co-investors, along with other VCs, instead of being primary investors. And till now, all the startups Spring has worked with have been in-bound. Either they have been approached by the founders or have been referred to by VCs. Explaining how their investment arm would work, Ganapathy says, “Right now we are a pure play consulting firm and the investments will happen next year. If I were to look ahead and predict, we are probably looking at five investments a year, leading to 15 investments over the next three years. We will look at investing between $1-2 million per company, which is around 10% of an investment round.” Why will they think the model, which does not still exists anywhere, will be a success? Ganapathy says, “There's genuinely a gap in the market for founders who have raised a series A or a Series B funding and are thinking of building a brand, embarking on a marketing journey for the first time. There is a gap in that space in terms of partners who are willing to do it. Secondly, the uniqueness of three different people like us coming together will help.” 
 <div type="Video" msid="71880167" hostid="261" title="Raja Ganapathy on what makes Spring Marketing Capital different" thumbUrl="https://denmark.timesinternet.in/cmslite/api/app/images.jpg?msid=71880167"></div>


 The vision for Spring Currently, Spring is working closely with founders and aiming at addressing their marketing problems, using the medium that is best suited for each problem. Their mantra? No two pieces of work coming out from Spring should ever look similar. Gupta says, “A lot of people compartmentalize their teams but we’re not structured like that at all. We're very solution-focused and the solutions come from the nature of the problem. We will never push a solution because we are good at something.” “What excites us about this is that we are helping founders on their journey, giving their business a structure and process, and making sure that building the brand becomes a part of the journey they are in, from a business point of view. And that is at the heart of what we do,” says Ganapathy. So where do they want to take Spring in the next few years? “The honest answer to that is, we don't know,” confesses Ganapathy. “I know this sounds shocking because a fair number of people have trusted us but the truth is, what we are trying to do is something very unique. And it would be foolish to think that we will be doing this for the next two decades of our life. We will be doing some version of this. But it all depends on the success of this model, which we believe will evolve with time,” he add. “We want to hold on to the philosophy of being an insider and the skin in the game way of working. What forms it takes, we will know as we go along,” adds Iyer.

You Searched For "Epigamia" and got 4 results

Deepika Padukone joins long list of Bollywood celebs to invest in startups – and her bet is on Greek yogurt

Sanchita Dash

Online personal care platform Purplle.com raises USD 8 million in funding

PTI

Akshaya Patra serves over 2 cr meals to lockdown-hit vulnerable people

PTI

Arun Iyer, Raja Ganapathy and Vineet Gupta’s Spring Marketing Capital is helping build disruptive brands of the future

Samarpita Banerjee

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides