Farm to home A2 milk-tech startup Native Milk receives funding
Mumbai-based farm-to-home A2 milk company, Native Milk has raised an undisclosed amount of capital in a Pre-Series A funding round led by Rukam Capital and DSG Consumer Partners. Currently, the company is offering dairy products, including milk and ghee, in Mumbai. Native Milk aspires to expand its presence in the overall premium milk market in the metro cities with the capital infusion while maintaining its USP of traceable cruelty-free sourcing in the next three years.
Founded in 2019 by Abinash Mohanty and Rohny Shende, Native Milk has been working on integrating a backward process to deliver its milk from farm to consumers with its sourcing, processing and last-mile delivery infrastructure. The company intends to introduce more dairy products in its portfolio in the coming days. Native Milk also endeavours to increase farmers’ income and milk’s quality in the supply chain.
“Milk is an essential part of every Indian family – be it a tradition, celebration or daily nutrition. While the milk revolution aimed to increase milk production and bring it to homes, we want to take the revolution forward and bring purity, nutrition, innovation, and excitement to the category. We are extremely proud to have our conviction backed by the esteemed investors like Rukam Capital and DSG Consumer Partners” – Co-founders of Native Milk, Abinash Mohanty and Rohny Shende.
Archana Jahagirdar, Managing Partner, Rukam Capital, says, “Backward processed Milk with a last-mile delivery is the next big thing with sourcing premium quality milk. The company has been able to successfully induct itself across a D2C subscription model. We have been thoroughly impressed by the evolution of the team’s vision over time and focus on capital-efficient growth. We are very excited to partner with them on their exciting journey to become the next household name in online milk delivery”.
“Indians are accustomed to getting their milk being delivered at doorstep early in the morning. However, new-age customers are more quality-sensitive than ever before. Startups have identified the changing demand and are offering tailored, tech-backed services to them. Native Milk is offering pure, premium A2 milk and milk products sourced with a backward process that can be ordered online in a matter of seconds.” said Archana.
Native Milk believes in bringing milk that is pure, antibiotic-and-hormone free and with a humane sourcing footprint to consumer’s doorstep. Their cows are cared for and graze freely on open farms. With India being the largest dairy producer globally, its considerable growth can be attributed to the value creation and addition that has been characteristic of this industry.
Rukam Capital is committed to energising and catalyzing the growth of emerging consumer brands that have the vision to provide services and products to cater to the consumers’ growing requirements. Rukam Capital has invested in Native Milk with an aim to strengthen the foundation of this milk-tech startup in India.
About Rukam Capital
Incorporated in 2019, Rukam Capital is a New Delhi-based venture capital firm that invests in purpose-led founders obsessed with solving hard problems at scale by creating products and companies that people love. Founded by Archana Jahagirdar, Managing Partner of Rukam Capital is on a mission to unravel the opportunities and potential concealed in the startup ecosystem. The firm has accelerated funding in several consumer brands, including Sleepy Owl, Burger Singh, Svami, GO DESi, The Bread Company, Orange Retail Finance, Henry & Smith and Misters.
About DSG Consumer Partners
DSG Consumer Partners (DSGCP) is an early stage venture capital fund focused on investing exclusively in consumer brands and businesses in India and South East Asia. Since its inception in 2013, DSGCP has backed over 40 start-ups and helped build some of the leading insurgent brands including OYO Rooms (sold to Softbank), Zipdial (sold to Twitter), Redmart (sold to Lazada), Veeba, Epigamia, Chai Point, Eazydiner, SaladStop!, Chope, GOQii, Mswipe, The Moms Co, Sleepy Owl Coffee, Simplee Aloe, Piccolo, YouVit, Pip & Nut, Sleepy Cat, Vista Rooms, Super Bottoms, Brewlander and others. DSGCP currently manages US$200 million of committed capital and has investment professionals and advisors in Mauritius, Singapore and Mumbai.
About Native Milk
Native Milk is a premium farm-to-home A2 milk company. Native Milk is completely backwards integrated from farm to consumers with its own sourcing, processing and last-mile delivery infrastructure. Its products include milk and ghee currently, with other products in the pipeline. The company operates on a D2C subscription model in the front end while endeavours to increase farmer income and quality of milk procured in the supply chain.