In a market where nutrition is increasingly becoming a key selling point, brands are racing to offer consumers healthier alternatives, from multigrain staples and organic products to fortified foods. But as the shelves fill up with promises of better health, the bigger question is what truly makes a difference to consumers: another product promising more nutrition, or one that fits seamlessly into their everyday lives?
Better Nutrition is betting on the latter. Following its appearance on Shark Tank India, the brand has been working to build awareness around biofortification, strengthen consumer trust and expand its reach. Using biofortification to enhance the nutritional value of everyday staples such as atta, rice and dal, its proposition is simple: make the food people already eat more nutritious.
In a conversation with IMPACT, Co-founder and CEO of the brand Prateek Rastogi discusses the challenge of standing out in a crowded nutrition space, while building a consumer-facing brand and charting its next phase of growth.
Q] Atta and rice are everyday essentials with well-established brands. What specific gap is Better Nutrition addressing that existing brands have yet to meet?
Most established food brands focus on taste, whether it is softer rotis, aromatic rice or speciality attas. Other innovations have centred on organic foods or multigrain atta, which changes the taste and texture of everyday food. There has never really been an attempt to make the wheat and rice we already eat more nutritious through agriculture. That is what we do at Better Nutrition through biofortification. We enhance nutrients at the soil and seed level, using seeds that can extract more nutrition from the ground and enriching the soil with the right microbes and micronutrients. This allows the grain to naturally contain adequate levels of iron, zinc, calcium and protein. We don't need to add anything artificially or change the taste, texture or eating habits of consumers. They can get more nutrition simply by eating the regular food they already eat.
Q] Your appearance on Shark Tank India brought Better Nutrition to a wider audience. After that appearance, what has particularly changed for the business in terms of sales, customer acquisition and brand awareness?
All of these metrics went up really well for us. When we were on Shark Tank, we were a very early brand with just a few months of sales, and our distribution network was not yet ready. After Shark Tank, we were able to launch pan-India across all major platforms, whether it is Blinkit, Swiggy, Zepto, Amazon, Flipkart or FirstClub. For consumers, understanding a new science like biofortification is not easy, especially given the amount of messaging in the market. Shark Tank helped us simplify that messaging, take it to consumers and increase trial rates.
We got a lot of orders in the days and weeks after Shark Tank, and many of those consumers continue to buy from us. Almost every metric, from visibility and conversion to distribution availability and core sales, jumped after Shark Tank.
Q] You secured a ₹60 lakh deal with Namita Thapar for 1% equity, alongside a royalty component. How important was this deal for your growth, and where has the capital been deployed?
The overall round was nearly ₹10 crore, of which ₹60 lakh was from Namita. Having people like them is beyond capital. They help you with so many things through regular guidance, opening up their networks and connecting with you. The money we raised at that point and subsequently, has mostly gone into strengthening R&D, understanding seeds and agronomy, and building the entire pan-India supply chain. This includes agriculture, processing capabilities, distribution networks, warehousing and fulfilment centres. The other focus has been listing products across marketplaces and quick-commerce platforms, educating consumers about the technology and science, and getting them to try the products and stick around.
Q] What role do celebrities play in your marketing strategy? With PV Sindhu associated with the brand and Varun Dhawan joining as an investor and brand ambassador, do they help build awareness and drive conversions?
Both, of course. For somebody like Varun Dhawan, when they get involved right from the supply chain side itself, when somebody is getting into biofortified farming, they are becoming part of the supply chain solution themselves. These are not commercial ambassadors whom we pay to come and talk about us. They become commercial ambassadors by investing in the companies. They are investors and long-term shareholders of the organisation.
They do multiple things. Of course, they read content and put it out on their platforms because that is the largest and easiest way to reach people. Whenever it comes to anything slightly more commercial, where you want consumer conversion and trust, they lend their voice. Whether it is on the website, in the packaging or in performance marketing ads, wherever we need them, they will be present. They will also be present at physical events and for PR and media interactions whenever we speak to them. There is a lot of credibility that they bring along with them.
Q: In June 2025, Better Nutrition reportedly recorded ₹11.5 crore in FY25 revenue and projected ₹27 crore in FY26. What were your actual FY26 revenues, and how did they compare with your target?
Broadly, we met more than 90% of our revenue targets. We recorded around ₹11 crore in FY25 and over ₹23 crore in FY26, in gross sales. This year, we are on a much higher trajectory, nearing ₹60 crore in gross sales, which we should comfortably achieve. The numbers are rising, which means there is excellent validation for the category. We have a month-on-month repeat rate of over 25%, and most of our products are rated 4.5 out of 5 on platforms like Blinkit and Amazon. We also get customer testimonials from people whose everyday nutritional problems, including iron, zinc, calcium and protein deficiencies, are being addressed through staples as a form of supplementation. That is the largest validation.
Q: You have set a revenue target of ₹100 crore for FY27. What are the biggest drivers of this growth?
We are not doing anything out of the way. We are just trying to ensure that everything is done in a very optimised manner. We focus on the small intricacies, look at sales data to increase consumer adoption and overall sales, and track platform-wise and SKU-wise success. We also look at contribution margins and ensure that overall profit margins remain healthy and stable across most products. One of the largest problems for the category, especially with new science, is consumer awareness. We have brought in partners, including celebrities and people with impactful voices and strong social media followings, who can help create awareness around biofortified foods. Many have already started biofortified farming themselves. We will announce another celebrity very soon who is also getting into biofortified farming.
We are trying to show people that food is not just about filling your belly. It can also be a good source of nutrients without mixing anything into it. Everybody is buying so many supplements, but we are trying to take people towards more nutritious food itself.
Q: Are Indian consumers increasingly willing to pay more for everyday foods with nutritional benefits, or is this market still niche?
In a diverse country like India, we have two broad sets of people. One is brand-conscious and trusts brands like Aashirvaad or Tata Sampann. There is also a segment that understands that startups are bringing in new technologies and innovations. Many people want to try these products, especially if they see a founder trying to solve a real problem.
Existing legacy brands may not be able to solve all of India's challenges. New brands are solving new problems, creating space and relevance for themselves. There is a growing interest in brands that offer better value and solve real problems beyond what legacy brands offer. Today, young brands can build trust in a year or two by getting their products right and winning consumers over. The way people perceive brands is shifting; it is not always legacy brands that dominate.
Q: How has social media changed the way brands market themselves? What are its advantages and disadvantages?
New and young brands do not use television, newspapers or mass media in their early stages. They rely on social media marketing and advertising on platforms like Blinkit, Swiggy and Amazon. The advantage is that, with good content and the right partnerships, brands can gain visibility without big budgets. The disadvantage is that social media is getting competitive, with every brand putting its voice out there. A small or mediocre effort is not going to get you much. You need to understand your customer, their pain points, the content you need to create and the influencers you need to partner with to move the needle. It is still complex, but the complexity is at a different scale and can be managed without necessarily having a lot of money. There is still a whole science to it.
Q: Are you seeing more traditional household shoppers or younger consumers buying Better Nutrition's products?
We definitely get many different kinds of consumers. The good thing about an atta, chawal or pulses brand is that it appeals to a very wide TG. Children under 10 are an important consumption target because they face severe iron, zinc, calcium and protein deficiencies, especially iron deficiency. Many women in India also have iron deficiency, and they are our consumers. Older people dealing with neurological, heart-related, gut-related or other problems also need to pay attention to nutritional balance.
We receive orders from top metros to Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. As India becomes more affluent, people want to spend on themselves and on better health, especially their children's health. Our consumers come from diverse backgrounds, although the shoppers making purchase decisions at home broadly continue to be in the 30–45 age group.
Q: What are your next priorities for brand expansion, retail distribution and farmer partnerships, and how will you scale while maintaining the brand's integrity?
The brand has been actively in the market for under two years and has been online for most of that time. We are present across Blinkit, Swiggy, Zepto, Instamart and Flipkart, and are now moving towards offline retail through organisations like LuLu Hypermarket, Ratnadeep Retail and Spencer's.
We are also looking at B2B opportunities and partnerships. We are about to start supplying the Akshaya Patra Foundation, which feeds schoolchildren. We are proud that biofortified cereals will reach children through such organisations. These nutrients have a huge impact on development, especially for children under 10. We are looking at both B2B and B2C, online and offline expansion, and a wider product portfolio. Until now, we have focused on kitchen essentials like atta, dal and chawal. Now, we will be getting into biofortified oils and products specially designed for children under 10.
