VSA Health & Wellness Pvt Ltd, which operates fusion beverage brand Raskik, has raised $1 million (Rs 7.36 crore) in a pre-Series A funding round.
The round in Delhi-based Raskik has been led by incubator and accelerator Venture Catalysts, the startup said in a statement. Other participants include Venture Catalysts’ accelerator fund 9Unicorns, former Reliance Communications CEO Syed Safawi, and Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal.
Future Brands MD and CEO Santosh Desai, ANAA International LLC, L’Oréal India CEO Amit Jain, the promoters of Sapient Wealth, Mutha Industries Pvt Ltd director Neeraj Mutha, and EvolvX Advisory LLP also took part in this round.
Raskik was set up by Vikas Chawla, Abhay Parnerkar, and Satyajit Ram, all three of whom have worked for global beverage giant The Coca-Cola Company.
The brand says it operates a portfolio of natural fusion beverages that it sells across several channels, including general trade, local chains, and online grocers such as Milkbasket and Bigbasket.
It will use the capital it has raised to expand its geographical presence in the country as well as focus on outreach to its target audience. Currently, Raskik maintains a presence in select areas of Delhi-National Capital Region.
“While we believe in the growth of the natural fruit juice category in India, we also have immense faith in the ability of the founders who have a deep understanding about the category given their vast experience in Coca-Cola,” Venture Catalysts co-founder Anuj Golecha said.
Venture Catalysts
The incubator-cum-accelerator was set up in 2015 by Golecha, Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Anil Jain and Gaurav Jain. It invests between $250,000 and $1.5 million in early-stage startups and provides networking opportunities and mentoring to its portfolio companies.
It also operates an investment vehicle – the 9Unicorns Accelerator Fund – that hit its first close at Rs 100 crore (around $13.7 million) in September.
Some of its recent investments include performing arts platform STAGE, insurance-technology startup Ensuredit, AI-based culinary platform Klovechef, beverage brand BrewHouse Tea Brewing Co., employee service desk platform Rezolve.ai, retail-technology startup Gully Network, and electric vehicle charging services startup Charge+Zone.