Behind the nutraceuticals boom in India
Impressive profit margins are driving more startups to sell these supplements, but they have to face fickle consumer habits and compete with pharma giants.
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Editor's note: When Sudheer Makam returned to India in 2015 after a decade of working in the nutraceuticals business in Singapore, he noticed Indians were warming to dietary supplements, but were reluctant to use them regularly. He spent the next five years trying to understand consumer behaviour. It all changed in 2020. With the COVID-19 pandemic, an increasing number of people took to multivitamins, hoping to build immunity against the virus. For Makam, it was a perfect business opportunity. He partnered with a friend, who has a drug manufacturing facility in Hyderabad, to build a startup that today sells over 300 vitamin packs a month. Founded in December 2020, Vitamins & Me customizes immunity-boosting products according to consumers’ health needs. Makam’s is among the several nutraceutical startups that have sprung up in the past two years. According to startup research firm Tracxn, of the top 50 startups in the nutraceuticals space, 20 received funding in the past three years alone—including from the likes of Sequoia Capital, Fireside Ventures, Sixth Sense Ventures and Chiratae Ventures. Nutraceuticals, which combine “nutrition” and “pharmaceuticals”, refer to …
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