Beyond Snack Kerala-headquartered banana chips brand has raised $8.3 Mn (about INR 71.3 Cr) in its Series A funding round led by consumer business-focussed fund 12 Flags Group.
The round also saw participation from existing investors NAB Ventures, Japanese VC firm Enrission India Capital and FAAD Network.
Beyond Snack plans to use the fresh capital to scale its presence across the country, strengthen its supply chain infrastructure, and drive product innovation.
Founded by Manas Madhu, with Jyoti Rajguru and Gautam Raghuraman joining as cofounders in 2020, Beyond Snack offers crispy banana chips and claims to be the top-selling ‘emerging snack brand’ on ecommerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, and BigBasket.
Its products are also available on Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart, as well as in 20K brick-and-mortar retail outlets such as DMart and Reliance stores.
Beyond Snack’s banana chips are made from freshly plucked Nendran bananas, a Kerala staple with many health benefits.
These bananas are directly sourced from farmers and chips are prepared in under two minutes to retain all natural nutrients instead of 15-20 minutes of frying.
“Banana chips have often been underrated due to lack of innovation and right technology. Hence we decided to drive that innovation and bring the latest technology in banana chips” said Madhu.
Beyond Snack shot to fame after featuring on Shark Tank India Season 1, where it bagged investments from Ashneer Grover, cofounder and former managing director of BharatPe, and Aman Gupta, cofounder, and chief marketing officer of boAt.
The D2C brand has established a presence in 18 cities, mainly in west and north India. Beyond India, it caters to customers in 12 other countries such as the US, the UAE, Australia, Sweden, Qatar, Nepal, Singapore, and Mauritius.
Beyond Snack aims to reach Lays-like heights in the banana chips market and is eyeing a revenue of INR 100 Cr by FY25.
The snacking segment is a big market within India’s larger D2C landscape. According to a report by Research and Markets, the country’s snack market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12% to become a $23.7 Bn opportunity by 2028.
