Bollywood stars show that investing in agribusiness isn’t just for American celebrities

Indian actors Genelia D’Souza and Riteish Deshmukh have launched a brand of plant-based protein in their home country, marking just celebrity’s latest foray into the food industry in recent months.

The startup co-founded by the Bollywood duo – who are also married to each other – is called Imagine Meats and will focus on developing animal-free versions of archetypal Indian dishes, including biryanis, curries and kebabs. . Start-up is supported by the India Chapter of the Good Food Institute, and has already entered into a product and ingredient development partnership with an American food and raw materials processing company Archer Daniels Midland.

It has not been revealed whether the couple are backing Imagine Meats with their own money or whether they have raised external investments.

The food industry of celebrities

Earlier this month, APN reported growing interest in agrifood investments among US celebrities, particularly in the alt protein space.

Entertainment stars Oprah Winfrey, Jay-Z and Natalie Portman took part in OatlyRecently raised $ 200 million, joining Blackstone and Rabobank to support the Swedish alternative milk maker.

Hip hop mogul Jay-Z has invested in a number of other food and farming related startups, many of them through his entertainment label Roc Nation and his VC arm, Arrive.

Earlier this year, Arr arrive invested inGreat, an Indonesian social commerce platform that enables local communities to buy produce in bulk from farmers and food suppliers.

This followed Arrival’s participation in the $ 20 million Round A Series raised by Coffee memories last December – one of Southeast Asia’s top 10 agribusiness technology venture capital deals in 2019, according to AgFunders recently released the ASEAN Agribusiness Technology Investment Report 2020. Arrive was joined in this round by tennis great Serena Ventures Serena Williams and basketball star Caris LeVert.

No market for alt protein in vegetarian India? Think again, according to the study – find out more here

Arrive has also invested in the Washington DC salad takeaway chain. Sweetgreen, which includes Fidelity Investments, T. Rowe Price and Lone Pine Capital among its other backers.

TV host and producer Winfrey has joined the $ 250 million round of funding raised by the American food waste reduction start-up Apeel Sciences in May, alongside pop star Katy Perry, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GICand dedicated agri-food VC AgFunder[disclosure: AgFunder isAFN’s parent company]. In fact, Winfrey has supported food related businesses for a few years now; she invested in an American restaurant brand focused on well-being True Food Kitchenin 2018, and acquired a$ 43.5 million stakein a weight loss programWeight Watchersin 2015.

Keep up to date with Deshmukhs

As the Deshmukhs have shown, it’s not just American celebrities who are on the agri-food finance train. In India, too, Bollywood stars have shifted investment towards the sector, seeing it as an increasingly compelling long-term bet and a way to make a social and environmental impact with their hard-earned millions.

In May of last year, Bollywood actor Arjun Kapoor invested in Foodcloud.in, a startup that allows users to order homemade meals. Food is prepared at mothers and housewives who sign up for the Foodcloud network to earn extra money. “This not only increases household income leading to a better lifestyle, but also promotes gender parity for the woman at home or in her neighborhood,” Kapoor said at the time.

Model turned actress Deepika Padukone first invested in the food start-up Drum Foods, which operates Epigamy, in May 2019. His family business, KA Enterprises, joined his $ 25.6 million Series C round next to Danone, with Padukone signing up as a brand ambassador for the company. Starting with Greek yogurt, Epigamia has since evolved into other premium dairy products such as smoothies and artisan curd. KA companies re-raised in March of this year.

Movie star and 1994 Miss World winner Aishwarya Rai – with her mother – recently invested 10 million ($ 134,000) in environmental intelligence startup Ambee. The Bangalore-based company uses its own network of sensors and third-party data sources to analyze factors such as air quality, humidity, pollen count, rainfall and soil conditions, with farmers making up one of its target audiences.

Sukhbir Singh – a Bollywood pop and film singer known as the “ Prince of Bhangra ” – has invested in the $ 200,000 seed round raised by LQI, a technological drink start-up, last August. Gurgaon-based LQI sources its fruits and vegetables directly from farmers to produce “raw” milkshakes, smoothies and flavored waters. These are made using a proprietary process that eliminates heat and oxidation treatments, as well as additives, often used to mass produce such drinks.

Actor Rana Daggubati took a slightly different path in agribusiness finance by partnering with a venture capital firm Anthill Ventures to launch the Urban-i consumer product accelerator. Revealed earlier this year, Urban-i’s first cohort showcases several food-focused startups including a subscription-based organic supplier Living food business, manufacturer of meal kits Tasty tales, and SoulFuel, which offers low-sugar protein supplements made from dates.

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