Denis Opudo
The Revofit startup will soon sell a percentage of its shares to FMCG Company. Founded in 2014, Revofit is based in Mumbai and it is incubated at the Ant Farm. Ant Farm was founded by Rishi Khiani the former CEO of Times Internet as an accelerator. Revofit offers customized meal plans and workout sessions for it clients and helps them maintain the fitness goal. Furthermore, the startup takes part in production and sale of food that is ready to eat both at its physical location and its online platform. FMCG major Marico LTD agreed to buy up to 22.5% of its shares.
Marico will buy the shares using both primary and secondary transactions. But it did not disclose the value of the strategic investment. The FMCG Company will make an initial purchase of up to 12.66% before buying the remaining 9.84% shares. The remaining shares will be bought the moment Revofit attains certain achievements that have been laid down in the agreement.
According to the Marico’s MD and CEO Sauguta Gupta, the investment goes in line with Marico’s goal of taking part in the wellness and neutraceutical scene. He also said that the firm is rotted deeply with knowledge in distribution, product development, and marketing. The three are in a position to make the firm successful. On the other hand, Ant Farm was founded in 2012 by Khiani. The startup works on identifying the existing idea and follows up on its execution.
Ant Farm incubated various startups like Fork Media which is an Ad-tech startup, Scootysy that is a food delivery company and UberDream that helps users to share experiences with many celebrities. The accelerator started to incubate Revofit back in 2014. Furthermore, it has managed to the raised undisclosed amount in Series A funding in 2014. The funding came from Hausela Capital and Bay Capital.
Founded in 1988, FMCG major is operational in Egypt, South Africa, Vietnam, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India and a few Middle East countries. Marico sold out 45% of its shares in Bellezimo Professional Products startup based in Mumbai in March 2018. The startup gives skin care products to salon chains at the cost of $246,000. Pankaj Saluja who was the company’s chief strategist resigned in December 2018. He used to help Marico in locating the inorganic growth opportunities. Marico came to an agreement to buy Isopul a South African based hair styling brand for almost $5.6 million. This was a move to finish up its ethnic hair care in South Africa. Before that Marico had joined the male grooming market by buying shares in Zed Lifestyle Pvt. Ltd. Zed Lifestyle Pvt. Ltd is the owner of Beardo business.
