Matrix-backed Open Secret raises Series B led by Ananta Capital

28th June 2022. Mumbai: Open Secret, a platform with a vision to "un-junk' the Indian health snack market through high-quality snacks targeted at families, announced today that it has raised a Series B investment round, led by Ananta Capital. The round also saw participation from existing investors Matrix Partners India and Sixth Sense Ventures along with Gautam Kumra, Chairman, Asia, Mckinsey & company.

Founded by Ahana Gautam and Udit Kejriwal in 2019, Open Secret has experienced 10X growth over the past year driven by strong consumer demand across its expanding portfolio of products. Open Secret aims to become a destination for the unjunked snacking needs of families with unprecedented innovation pace; added 9 new categories in the last 9 months. With a strong growth momentum, healthy unit economics, and an experienced team of operators, Open Secret is set to exponentially grow in the $15B snacking category.

The freshly infused capital will be used to launch more products, build capacity, strengthen
the team, scale up the capabilities in tech and expand omni channel distribution presence.

Commenting on the fundraise, Ahana Gautam, CEO and Co-founder, Open Secret said "There has been a structural shift in consumer behaviour - India has been a supply constrained market and with the Open Secret platform, we want to address that. We are on a path to become a leading snacking destination by un-junking snacks in India which is a $15B category. We are reimagining the entire lifecycle of the snacking industry. Excited to partner with Ananta Capital on this next phase of growth, and to build upon our partnership with Sixth Sense and Matrix.'

"We are very happy to partner with Open Secret in their journey to unjunk the Indian snacking segment. We believe that post-Covid consumer's preference for healthy snacks has considerably increased and there is momentous white space in the category. Open Secret has demonstrated quick success in multiple product categories across various distribution funnels,' said Lovkesh Kapoor, Managing Partner, Ananta Capital.

Nikhil Vora, Founder & CEO of Sixth Sense Ventures, said "Open Secret's vision to "un-junk' the Indian snacking market strongly resonates with our philosophy at Sixth Sense '“ backing first generation founders, catering to the "consumer of tomorrow', in large categories (US$10bn+ Indian snacking market). We have been early backers of the business and believe Ahana along with her pedigreed team are rightly focused towards building products with a strong value proposition and plugging the same into the most appropriate distribution channels (omnichannel approach). Open Secret has the ability to create a strong niche for itself and are excited to deepen our partnership with them, to accelerate the next phase of growth in becoming a household brand in India.'

"We're excited to continue to deepen our partnership with Open Secret as they build out on their vision to 'unjunk' the Indian health snack market. The growth attained over the last 12-24 months is a testament to the brand's success - we look forward to their journey of becoming India's leading health-foods player, and welcome Ananta Capital to the partnership!" commented Avnish Bajaj, Founder and Managing Director, Matrix India.

About the Founding Team:
Ahana Gautam is an experienced operator with a passion to build and grow the biggest consumer brands in India. She has a B.Tech from IIT Bombay and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She started her career at P&G where she worked across multiple functions '“ supply chain, finance and marketing. Ahana grew her passion for food brands at General Mills in the US where she launched natural and organic products.

Udit Kejriwal has a B.Tech from IIT Kharagpur and an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. He started his career at P&G and McKinsey and has 7+ years of experience in supply chain and operations.

About Open Secret:
Open Secret is a platform with a vision to unjunk snacking for every Indian family. Powered by a strong operating team of strategists and marketers from Harvard Business School, IIM, and IIT with 40+ years of collective FMCG experience and backed by the strongest set of mentors in the form of investors. Open Secret is currently available through their website at https://opensecret.in, multiple ecommerce platforms, and across 3000+ offline stores Pan India where they sell their entire range of un-junked snacks including; Cookies, Chips Nuts, Chocolates, Cereals and many more categories.

About Ananta Capital:
Ananta Capital is a mid market consumer focused private equity platform. Founded in 2020, Ananta works with the philosophy to back founders and companies for long term. Ananta Capital is backed by the Taparia Group, one of the most respected business conglomerates from India. Ananta's notable investments include IDAM House of Brands (parent company of Bella Vita Organic, Brave Essentials, Bevzilla, Mix Cosmetics), Springwel Mattresses, Pickrr, Stove Kraft and PG Electroplast.

About Sixth Sense Ventures:
Sixth Sense Ventures is India's first domestic, consumer-focused venture fund - Investing in the Consumer of Tomorrow...Today! Founded in 2014, Sixth Sense Ventures currently manages over $550M across three funds and has been ranked as one of the top-performing AIFs (Alternative Investment Funds) in India by CRISIL. SSIO III has completed 26 investments including Parag Milk, Nobel Hygiene, Fraazo, Open Secret, Stylam, GoodDot, Neeman's, Rage Coffee, Design Cafe, Bira 91, Storia, Giva, Freecultr, Dogsee Chew, Wonderchef, Vedic Cosmeceuticals, Unbox Robotics, Veeda Clinical Research, Direct (ShopKirana), Altigreen, Prozo, Just Dogs, Phool, Ras Beauty, ADF Foods and Toprankers.

About Matrix Partners India:
Founded in 2006, the firm invests in companies targeting the Indian consumer and enterprise market at the seed, early and early growth stages. Matrix India has invested in several market leading consumer-focused companies such as Country Delight (D2C dairy & fresh foods brand), Mosaic Wellness (health & wellness digital platform), W For Woman (ready to wear fashion label), OZiva (India's leading clean, plant-based nutrition brand), The Whole Truth (clean label food brand), DaMENSCH (premium men's apparel brand), & Chumbak (design-led lifestyle brand).

Other marquee investments include Ola (mobility), Dailyhunt (mobile local language platform), Razorpay (payments), OfBusiness (B2B Commerce, fintech), Five Star Business Finance (SME lending), Ola Electric (electric vehicles), Stanza Living (tech-enabled student housing platform), OneCard (mobile-first credit card), DealShare (social commerce platform), GoKwik (e-commerce enablement platform), Captain Fresh (seafood marketplace), Bijnis (B2B platform for factories), MoEngage (intelligent marketing cloud platform), Jupiter (consumer neobank), Mswipe (mobile POS), Zupee (leading skill-based gaming app), and Oxyzo (a tech-enabled smart financing solution provider) among others. Matrix India has advisory offices in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai. Matrix Partners has a global network of funds investing in the US, China and India, with approximately $5 billion under management. Further information is available at www.matrixpartners.in. To know more about our investment philosophy & ideologies, check out the #MatrixMoments podcast series.

For more information, contact:
pr@matrixpartners.in