HealthKart raises $135 million in growth funding

HealthKart, a nutrition firm, has raised $135 million of growth funding led by Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings in partnership with venture capital firms A 91 Partners and Kae Capital.

The company said it will use fresh capital to grow its in-house D 2 C brands, as well as expand its offline distribution and international operations. The company will use a portion of the capital to make select acquisitions.

HealthKart owns and operates the sports nutrition brand MuscleBlaze and the online health supplement brand HKVitals. These products are distributed across online and offline channels including its own platforms, on ecommerce and quick commerce platforms, D 2 C websites, offline grocers and chemists, and over 140 HealthKart-branded offline stores.

The company's products are used by more than a million consumers every month and its revenue run rate has crossed 1,000 crore.

We are pleased to partner with A 91 Partners and Temasek in our mission to deliver innovative, high quality preventive care solutions to Indian consumers. In India, eating habits that address the nutritional gaps is a systemic trend that is taking off in a big way. Sameer Maheshwari, Founder and CEO of HealthKart, said that they were excited to lead the way with HealthKart's R&D capabilities and omni-channel distribution infrastructure.

The company was founded in 2011 as HealthKartPlus by Prashant Tandon and Maheshwari. In 2015, it spun off its pharmaceutical vertical into a separate company named 1MG Technologies. Maheshwari continued to lead HealthKart while 1 MG, headed by Tandon, was acquired by Tata Group in a $450 million deal.

The exclusive financial advisor to HealthKart was Avendus Capital.

The investment is welcome news to the gloom and doom of the start-up ecosystem that has been reeling under a severe funding crunch. Several start-ups in India have laid off employees in the past few months because VCs have become cautious about their investments. Healthtech start-up Healthifyme was among the latest to join the layoff bandwagon, sacking about 150 employees. VerSe, the parent firm of the parent company of the short video platform, has fired 150 employees. Other start-ups that have asked people to leave include BYJU'S, Unacademy, Vedantu, Ola, Chargebee, MPL, Meesho, Cars 24 and Udaan.