Protein Pantry raises Rs 9 Cr in seed round led by Sharrp Ventures

High-protein frozen food brand Protein Pantry has raised Rs 9 crore in a seed funding round led by Sharrp Ventures, with participation from Peercheque, Consumer Collective by Atrium and Indian Silicon Valley Capital, alongside angels including Varun Alagh, Rishubh Satiya, Avnish Anand, Arush Chopra, Saurabh Munjal, Signal Ventures and others. The fresh capital will primarily be deployed towards setting up and scaling the manufacturing unit, along with continued investment in R&D and supply chain, Protein Pantry said in a press release. Co-founded in November last year by Disha Bhattacharya and Prashanth Bhushan, Protein Pantry is a clean-label frozen food brand building high-protein, ready-to-cook products for Indian households. Its range is made using kitchen-shelf ingredients, with no refined flour, preservatives or palm oil. The products are formulated to a 1:10 protein-to-calorie ratio and manufactured entirely in-house. According to Protein Pantry, it has gone live direct-to-consumer across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Jaipur, and on quick commerce platforms such as Blinkit, FirstClub and Flipkart Minutes across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The brand said it has served over 30,000 households and has a strong repeat rate. It plans to enter Pune, Kolkata, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Chennai on quick commerce by the end of the year. The brand is targeting a gap in the protein market, which is largely built around supplements and snacks. Its portfolio includes soya chaap, kebabs, cutlets and falafels, which are baked rather than fried and made without refined flour, preservatives or palm oil. The company also produces its marinades, sauces and chaap base in-house at its own facility. The Delhi-based brand also plans to expand its range with new formats. Over the next 12 to 24 months, it is targeting availability across major Indian cities through D2C and quick commerce, along with an expansion of its protein range across categories. Recent funding activity in the segment includes Athena Protein, which raised a pre-seed round from Campus Fund in September this year to expand its high-protein food portfolio and cold-chain distribution. Meanwhile, The Whole Truth raised about $51 million in a Series D round in February this year to expand its clean-label protein and packaged-food business. Bareback Media has recently raised funding from a group of investors. Some of the investors may directly or indirectly be involved in a competing business or might be associated with other companies we might write about. This shall, however, not influence our reporting or coverage in any manner whatsoever. You may find a list of our investorshere.

Original source: Entrackr