OZiva unplugged: building india’s leading clean, plant-based nutrition brand

OZiva unplugged: building India’s leading clean, plant-based nutrition brand

Sanjot:

Hi, guys, welcome to your first episode of Matrix Moments. Thank youfor doingthis. Aarti, founder of OZiva and Mihir also the founder of OZiva.

OZiva, for our viewers, isIndia’s leading plant-based nutrition company and one of ourveryexciting investments. Why don’t we start withyourbackgrounds, guys, and whatkind ofledyouto start OZiva inthisspecific space.

Aarti:

Thank you, so much. I think it’s wonderful to be a part of Matrix Moments. Just a brief introduction about ourselves – we startedOZivaback in 2016 but I think before that our entrepreneurial journey started in 2013. And I actually come from Chandigarh so I was born and brought up there. My mother comes from a healthcare background and -- you know, just turned out to be better in Maths so went to IIT, right, that typical structure that we follow. I was working for a startup in Bangalore back then into the analytics space. And then I did my MBA -- but I think over a couple of these years what was happening was there was this quest inside and if I were to start my business it’s either now or it would never be. And the areas that interested were healthcare but not the curated because I had seen that throughout my childhood. So something that interested me was the preventive healthcare space, and I came to Mumbai to get this rolling, met Mihir. Mihir comes from a bio technology background.

Mihir:

So I come from a bio technology background and more towards life sciences and I’m more interested in fitness and health always. But was not doing the same thing because I was doing something else before, but then the true calling came in and I was trying something in a similar space and we both met while running a marathon through a common friend. And then we exchanged thoughts and found that, okay, this are some really complementary skillsets that we have and let’s try this.

Aarti:

That’s how we started. I was just talkingaboutpreventive health, and ifyoulook at preventive healthcare basicallytherearethree key pillars whenyoutalkabouthealth and fitness ingeneral. It is, first of all – we believethatyou need to eat clean,right,thatyou need tohave–yournutrition is averyimportantpillar.

Second isthatyouneed to focus onyourphysical wellness and then Ithinkifyouwant to reap benefits of the first twoyouneed to be mentally healthy and stress free. Ithinkthat’swherepredominantly the thought process was when we started buildingthiscompanythathow can we empower more and morepeopleto be healthier and better. Ithinkthat’s the baseline – we honestly tried out a couple ofbusinessmodels,right,differentbrand names. A lot of my friends will still say,iss saal toh yeh tha, agle saal kuh aur hoga,but Ithinkover a period of time we realizedthatwe knew what we need to solve for, but how – Ithinkthatwas the question.

Hence we pivoted, we pivoted till the time we figured out therightbusinessmodel. And we initially started with, whichI’msureyouknow, we were into health services, so fitness services.

So we were doing diet consultation, we were doing marathon training and all ofthatbasically into the services and consultation space. And then we realized why not focus on one pillar at a time and then crack it end to end.

Right,becauseit’sveryimportant–you know,it’s easiersaidthan donethatkhaane mein yeh khaalo,includethiskind offood,right, but it’sverydifficultconsidering the type of lifestylepeoplehaveinIndia. It’sverytypical to get the nutrition – and when I say nutrition it’sverydifferentfrom food.Peopletry to mingle both thethings,right, food and nutrition, it’s not the samething.Youmight be eating good food butthatdoesn’t meanthatyouactuallyget therightmacro-micro nutrientsthatthe body requires.

And which iswherewe looked at – initially we were recommending other brands but when wesaid, okay, istheresomethingthatis worth recommending.Right, and which iswhereeverythingacross the tablethatwe were looking at – the products and the brands available in the nutrition space either has a lot of artificial chemicals, ingredients, and which iswherewesaidthatthereis a need to buildsomethingwhich the country doesn’thavetoday. But Ithinkpeopleneed to eatsomethingthat’s clean,thatis safe for their body and which iswhereOZiva came into the picture.

Sanjot:

And we’ll dive more into OZiva in a bit. Let me askyoua question,you know,from a founder’s perspective maybe talkaboutyourchoosingyourinvestor. How we met and – IrememberitwhereI had to chaseyouandyouweren’t taking my calls and I had to really convinceyouto speak with us. How didyoumakethatdecision, how did sort ofthatjourney look like?

Aarti:

See, weactually– when we initially started thebusinessit was a typicalthingwhich a lot ofentrepreneurs do in the early stages,ki paisa milega aur tabhi business build ho sakta hai,And we wereactually-- knocked a couple of doors which iswherewe realizedthatsomethingis not matching.

You know,either we’re not able to raise capital in the initial days and which is when we realizedthat–you know,why focus on money first, let’s try and solve theproblem. And in the next 2-3yearswe just dedicated on solving theproblemand weactually– our convictionthatthereis aproblemthatliesthere.Whereeverybodyelse in the initialyearswere sayingthatnutrition, that’s a vitamin, minerals category, it’s not a must have,right.Youneed to dosomethingthatis must have for the human like –you know,itshouldbe like a scalablebusiness, itshouldhavethismuchmarketcap. Then we were like wehaveto solve theproblem,right, I don’trightnow know what themarket potential would be, right, that’s something that we realized over a period of time.

And which is where we actually raised debt in the initial days. And business was – you know, we grew it slowly but I think that’s what worked in our favor. In the initial days we figured out the right business model, the right kind of products that is speaking to the consumers. We just focused on consumers so much we were obsessed – like, you know, and even today like what consumer really needs. And I think capital initially – so capital there are multiple ways to raise it – we leveraged debt in the initial years and we were growing very nicely and that’s where I think over I think last year Jan, Feb, March, right, we started talking and we met you.

And I think what was important, what I still admire about Matrix and that I admired, you know, post meeting I think we had a conversation and I think after that I met Avnish and the other team members in this office. Important was thatdhandha toh humein karna aata hai,but I can’t setup a thesis for you. Your thesis in the space was clear, right, that market potential what would it be. So, it was in your words as you say like the marriage of the two minds.

I think that’s where it was all syncing well because we were growing very nicely. I think our unit economics, growth potential, all of that was nice and you guys had a very laid out thesis in this space. Okay, you know, this will eventually become bigger. And which is where I think we eventually – it worked out well.

Sanjot:

Right.Yeah, I knowabsolutely. And Ithinkjust onthatthesispointobviously the core of our thesis is the founding team and Ithinkthatwas the mostimportantpart. Ithinkthecustomerobsessionthatyouspokeaboutreally showsthroughand it was showingthroughin the numbers too.

Thecustomerlove was really exceptional and so I would say the decision wasveryeasy and the excitement wastherefor sure -- but broadly Ithink-- likeyoumentioned the thesis on nutrition for us is one of solving a coreissueinIndia.Indiais one of the lowest penetration countries in terms of both vitamins and protein and is a large category even by today’sstandards --it is 2.5 billion and growingveryquickly.

But Ithinkthe why now of it isvery,veryimportant. Ithinkthe backward-looking view isthatit’s a vitamin andyoushouldhavea pain killer to solve myproblem. ButthatIthinkis averybackward-looking view of the world. The awarenessbecauseof internet penetration has just taken off among the Indian consumer too. And so, the pull is there for the first time, so the why now ofthisthesis Ithinkisvery,veryimportant.Thenthe final one Ithinkwhich all three of usaremost excited by in my opinion is the whole platform ability ofthisto go intosomethingmuch, much larger,right, which is the whole commerce pluscommunityplus content type of play. And Ithinkwe’lltalk a little bit more about that. But let’s talk more specifically about OZiva. Why don’t you tell us about – maybe start with what the name means and why OZiva and why you picked this specific category in business.

Aarti:

That’s Ithinkone of the best questions, I loveansweringthat. Ithinkwe wereactuallyplaying around with a couple of names early on,right, and we realized – stepping back even before the name.Importantis what is the philosophy, what’s the core philosophy in the brand,right? And as founders, both Mihir and I truly believedthatbest is a myth,thereis nothing called best.

There’s always a better version of youthatexists,right, and Ithinkthat’s thekind ofconsumerthatwe wanted to speak tothatwe believedthatthatwould be a consumer, he or she would be a seeker who was onthat– seeking forsomethingbetter in life. And wesaidwe would empower every seeker’s relentless pursuit of being better. Ithinkthat’s a simplethingthatwe puttogether,right, that’s the core philosophy of the brand. And then wesaid,okay, let’s talkaboutthe namethatcanactuallydo justice tothis. And which iswhereifyoulook at the name OZiva,right, it comes from Ziva is a Hebrew word which means radiance and brilliance. So wesaidthatradiance and brilliance to be better has to come from within you. Weactuallycan’tsolvethatproblemfor you,right,becauseit’saboutyou,youareat the core ofthisessential – like the lifethatyou’reliving. Soyouneed toactuallymove forward, be better. But we as a company will provide all solutionsthatwillactuallyenableyouor empower you to makethatjourney easier. Ithinkthat’s the way weactuallythoughtaboutZiva. And O for us stands for originality. So when wesaid, wesaidwe would never do Me Too products, that’s the core philosophythatwe would never – iftherearesay hundred products available in themarketor hundred solutions I would not be a 101stone for consumers,thisis what it is. That’swhereit keeps reminding us day in and day outanythingthatwe launch or wethinkabouthas to be original and it needs to empower thepeopleto be better and healthier. Ithinkthat’s how we thought of the name.

Sanjot:

Right.Verygood start.

Mihir:

Yeah. It took us almost two and a half, three months to come tothiswhole – lot of brainstorming sessions, lot of café sessions with lot ofpeople.

Aarti:

Mentors.

Mihir:

Mentors and well wishers. And that’s the outcome which we got and now we’re all proud of it.

Aarti:

Yeah. And thanks for the café and the coffee. Caffeine boost helped us.

Sanjot:

And it’sveryinteresting. I alsorememberinitially wondering why the Z in Ziva is capital,right, andthisis the reason.

Aarti:

Yeah. I’ll just saythateverybodywho sent me a mail, please make O capital, Z capital,right, that’sveryimportant.

Sanjot:

Becauseof the Hebrew wordyousaid.

Aarti:

Yeah.

Sanjot:

Veryinterestingstory. Mihir, why don’t we come to you? I knowyour bio science background as well. So we talked a lot about clean label and plant based as well and there’s a lot of brands now sort of getting on that trend because the consumer is asking for clean labeled foods, they care about what they’re putting in their body. But there’s no real definition of clean label as such, that’s universally accepted. So what makes OZiva special?

Mihir:

Sothereis a way to test it andI’mreally proud to saythisthatwe’reIndia’s – OZiva isIndia’s first –you know,from US we’ve got the clean label product certification andthatis also the highest certification which we got was purity certification. A purity award which we got and wehavebeen tested on almost 300differenttestsrightfrom the raw material to the end product.You know,therearen number of tests wehavedone likeyou know,plasticizers,thereareresidual solvents,therearemicro toxins, environmental toxins. Theseareall found in all the brands whicharethereand now we can saythatinIndiawe’re the first ones to getthiscertification and inIndia,you know,the testing limits are in parts per million. We were not even getting those limit of quantification inIndiaso we went to US, sent our productsthere, our raw materialsthere, did all the testing.

Sanjot:

Which is parts per billion.

Mihir:

Parts per billion it is. Sotheytest in parts per billion and all our productsaretested onthatparameters and now we can proudly saythatyouwill not find any of these traces in our products. So we’re truly, truly a clean label product certified brand.

Sanjot:

So we spokeaboutthe brand. Let’s maybe talk alittlebitaboutwhat makes the corebusinessunique and what’s really specialaboutit?

Aarti:

Ithinkwe spokeaboutOZiva,right, and predominantly as I was talkingaboutthe three pillars to our overall existence which is the nutrition, physical wellness and mental health. So within OZiva which is our nutrition brandtherearethree key pillars to it. One is the products need to be clean and plant based. So we need to use – when I say cleanthatit needs to be free of anyartificialingredients and we need to use as many whole foods and plantsbecauseits better absorption and works better for the body in the longer run. Ithinkthat’s the firstthing. The second one isthatit needs to be enriched with Ayurveda – so,you know,we’reactuallymerging the two sciences, modern science and ancient Ayurveda. Now the keythingtothisis Ithinkindifferentparts of the globe Ithinktherearedifferentnames to itwhereyoucall it plant base, Ayurveda.You’reactuallyleveraging a lot of plants and herbs,standardizing them sothattheycanactuallyhavebenefit for the body for aparticular– maybe it’s skin, maybe it’s hair, maybe it’s foryourfitness oryourgut health.

Sotherecould be multipleproblemsthatyou’re trying to solve. And which is where is the second pillar to OZiva and the third one is that it needs to be – how can you make it far more personalized for our consumers. Because we said we don’t want to just send a dabba out there, okay,ki yeh lelo, aapka kaam ho jayega,I think it’s about changing their entire lifestyle. And then how can we be a part of people’s lifestyle -- which is where the content that we’re building, right, or even the personalized consultation that we give.

So any OZiva customer today when they actually buy an OZiva product they can connect with a nutritionist and we don’t charge anything for our ecosystem or for our services. Because we believe that it’s an integral part to our consumers’ spectrum to enable him or her to make a better choice. And which we’ve seen in the business also – for example people who actually become a part of the ecosystem they havebetter repeats,they have better cohorts. I think that’s where we’re focusing on as a company. And those are the key three pillars to OZiva.

Sanjot:

Got it.Verygood.Maybe if we go a little bit deeper for a second on that last pillar I know we’ve done a lot of work on especially community building and events and even through this sort of Covid period we’ve continued that online. Maybe talk a little bit about that, like how you view that piece as like you mentioned integral piece of the business?

Aarti:

Ithinkthe way we look at thebusinesses as wesaidtherecould be a millionpeoplebuying OZiva but couldtherebe hundred millionpeoplewhose livesaregetting affectedor impacted with the help of the content that we’re building. I think that’s the way we look at that entire vertical. And a couple of things and very interesting things that we’ve tried in the last one year -- so, OZiva TV where we keep producing different content pieces around whether it’s through experts, right, or whether it’s through,and we’ve gotten a very good success rate the way people are liking the content or not. I think that’s very important for us. And also we conducted – we’ve started virtual events and we conducted a course to virtual walkathon, you know, a runathon event and it was predominantly focused on women fitness or health. So it was a virtual women’s walkathon, runathon. We saw more than thousands of women participating in the first event itself which was tremendous. I think that’s not the kind of response that we were expecting in the first go. But this is – and a lot of the participation was coming not from the tier one cities, it was coming from all across India, different parts of India. Which is where we realized that – yeah, that there is a quest to actually live better -- like it is there everywhere. It is not restricted to metros today, that phenomena. And it’s only about who can speak to those consumers and be a part of their lifestyle. And I believe that OZiva will be the brand that would be actually a part of like that change millions of lifestyles. Not in India, I believe globally over a period of time. So I think that’s the focus.

Sanjot:

Verycool.Actuallythere’s one more question Ihavefor you guys. Whenyoustarted thebusinessand I knowyouguys wentthroughlots of pivots and lots of ups and downs. When didyoufirst knowthatyouwere on tosomethingspecial orsomethingbig andthismight be a successfulbusiness?

Aarti:

Ithinkthere’s no one aha moment,right, it’s justthatyoukind ofarerunning the show day in day out and figure out fromyourinitial cohorts or consumers aretheyreally liking or appreciating whatyou’rebuilding or not.

So speaking to consumers in the early days, speaking to ourcustomers in the early days was animportantfeedbackbecauseifyouseethatwe were the first ones to launch a product called ‘Protein and Herbs for Women’. So it’s a health drinkthatis specifically made for women which didn’thavejust protein, it had all the micronutrients. It had a lot of herbal extracts which has been hormonal balanced.

Aproblemthatwe figured out was animportantthingthroughour initial days of runningFitcircle.Becausetherewere a lot of women coming on for diet consultation and we realizedthatit’s a bigproblemfor them. And isthereany product todaythat’s solving for the macro micro nutrients as well asthisconcern.Therewasn’t andthat’swherewesaid, okay, let’s launchit and let’s see how it kind of works. And today also I think we build that category over a period of time. And I think that’s what we believe in, right, it’s predominantly how can you create categories. We today – I think on Amazon more than 4.3 plus rating, I think that has gotten good amount of love from the consumers concerned. And I think initial days our feedback helped us and then we’re launching products that we thought could be helpful for our customers. I think that’s how --

Mihir:

And maximum of our productsarethroughour consumers’ insights only. So even the hair and the skin category was coming from the consumer. The same set of consumers were asking for better products in those categories – so we did some innovation in thosethings and yeah, that’s how it went.

Sanjot:

Let’s spend a minute on thebusinessand the traction alittlebit. I know it’s beenveryimpressive so why don’tyoutell us how the last year odd has gone for you?

Aarti:

Ithinkit’s been spectacular honestly – it’ssomethingthatwe didn’t expect. And I stillrememberIthinkeven before Ianswerthat --so far I don’tthinkso we’ve made abusinessdeck or ppt.We just let the numbers do the talking.

Sanjot:

I’m aware, haha

Aarti:

Yeah, so Ithinkwe just let the numbers do the talking and Ithinkwe’re gladthatnow we’re today more than a 100 cr in annualizedrevenues. And it’s predominantly also making thebusinessvery,verycapital efficient. So we’ve donethisin averyprofitable way so far andyou know,what’s moreimportanthonestly is while numbers keep growing, humare liye what’s more important is predominantly the number of householdsthatwe’ve touched. So today more than a million householdshaveconsumed OZiva andthatissomethingthatisvery,veryexciting for us. Andthisis not restricted to just the tier one or the top four or five or the metro citiesactually. More than 70 percent of our consumersactuallycome from beyond metros. And which isveryinterestingbecausepeoplethinkthathealth-consciouspeoplesirfmetro mein haitheywouldactuallywant to invest into products like these. But Ithinkthere’s an untappedmarketor potential like beyond metros.

Sanjot:

Much largermarket.

Aarti:

Which is much larger as well,right.It’s a very common man, woman, like somebody like my parents or a very – you know, we both, Mihir and I, come from a middleclass family, right, so our parents or the kind of lifestyle that we’ve seen we know that we aspired for such good products, mil jaate hai, Rs500-100 invest karna aapke health mein I don’t think so that’s a big deal. Like there are lot of people willing to invest if it’s available, I think that’s it. You can’t sell fake things, right, which is where getting the kind of revenues that we have achieved from a very expanded market is something that speaks volumes about the business. And we believe that today we’ve crossed hundred but in the next five years can we cross thousand. I think we believe we can and there’s a market out there.

Sanjot:

Absolutely. And Ithinkas alwaysyouwereverymodest -- not onlyhaveyoucrossed a hundredyou’ve grown more than 4x in under 12 months,right, eventhroughthisverydifficultperiod. And Ithinkagainthatspeaks volumes for bothyourcapability and thebusinessstrength. And the secondpointIthinkyoumentioned -- which isveryimportantas well it shows the depth of themarketin tier 2India-- which has always been a question markespeciallyfor new age brands,especiallyfor brands of companiesthatarecatering to sort of classically Westernproblems, whatpeoplethinkareWestern, but it showsthatIndiais now changing.They’re both aware and looking for a solution andthere’s affordability which shows in the profitability of thebusiness.

Aarti:

Yeah. Indeed. Yes.

Sanjot

Verycool stuff. I guess question to both ofyou– maybe start with Aarti. Asyoulook ahead and towards the future what’syourvision,wheredoyouseethisbrand and company going?

Aarti:

So Ithinkhonestly it isdifficultto say,right, it has evolved over a last couple ofyearsis what I’ve seen. It goes back to the previous questionthatwe were talkingabout,right,thatwe – what do as a company want to do. Like what doyouwant to do? And which iswherewe want to empower every seeker’s relentless pursuit of better. And in the health and fitness spaceor the health and wellness zone that we are in. And there are three pillars to it. We talked about nutrition and we spoke about physical wellness, right, we spoke about mental health. I think as a company over a period of next – we don’t have a five year plan honestly because we invested in it for I think the longest amount or number of years that are yet to come. And we look at it that we should have solutions for our consumers in all these three buckets. Whatever can make their life easier and convenient, right, and I think that’s where we would launch more solutions in that space.

Sanjot:

Got it. Maybe before we wrap up any advice for young foundersthatyoumighthave?

Aarti:

You know,thisis a tricky question.

Sanjot:

Yeah.

Aarti:

BecauseIthinkwe still alsoareveryearly in our journey ofentrepreneurship,right, it’s been sevenyearsnow.

Mihir:

Yeah, it’s been sevenyearsand the onlythingwhich I would like to saythat,you know,perseverance is the key. Believe inyourselfand be in the game. It’s last man standing for me likeyouhaveto be in the game. Eventuallyyouwill get success,I mean, success can bedifferentfordifferentpeople, parameters can bedifferent, but whatyouwant to doyouhaveto day in and day out don’t give up. That’s my mantra.

Aarti:

Yeah. And I agree withthat. Like Ithink– simple. Ithinkhonestly, we’re notthe smartestpeople. I would like to saythat–youmight sayyou’reveryhumble.Youkeep sayingthatyouarehumble and modest but Ithinkit’s the fact is like,you know,Ithinkperseverance has worked the most for us as compared to --

Mihir:

And building the team.Rightteam,rightset ofpeopleinitially and believe in them and makethem believe in your vision. You know, that’s something which is the key.

Aarti:

Yes, Ithinkthat’s averygoodpointbecausetalkingaboutthe team we’ve pivoted twice now,right, and OZiva launched like fouryearsback but it’s been sevenyearsto theentrepreneurial journey. And the first threepeoplewho were as part of the teamarestillthere.Thatis what -- the belief is not in just the idea of howyou’re doing but their belief is in why we’re doing it, and eventuallybusinessmodels can be cracked. So the team needs to believe in why rather than how.

Mihir:

Your why needs to be clear and how and what --

Aarti:

Will keep changing.

Mihir:

Will keep changing.

Aarti:

Or evolving.Yeah.

Sanjot:

Verycool stuff.Thank you, guys,thank youfor being so forthcoming and doingthis.

Aarti:

Lovely to be here.