Storia Food & Beverages raises US$ 6 million in Series A round

Storia Foods & Beverages, a young and disruptive F&B brand in India, has raised US$ 6 million in a Series A round from Sixth Sense Ventures (SSIO-III). The capital received will expand the business, release new products, and build a powerful distribution network across the country.

Storia's core focus is a range of healthy beverages comprising India's Highest fruit content, Shakes, 100%- no added sugar juices and 100% natural Tender Coconut water. Storia is set to be the new-age, on-the-go food and beverage brand of choice for the next generation of health-conscious consumers. As consumer habits transition to those that promote a healthy lifestyle, Storia is well-positioned to harness these tailwinds and scale rapidly.

Commenting on the announcement, Vishal Shah, founder and managing director, Storia Foods & Beverages, said, "Sixth Sense and Storia, both, believe in a similar value system of investing in a consumer of tomorrow, today, which makes us a great fit. We, at Storia, feel a great responsibility towards what our consumers eat. Being a brand that has been R & R&D driven, we've remained true to serving products that are delicious, convenient, sustainable to the environment and inspire a healthier lifestyle. With Sixth Sense's expertise in scaling and creating consumer brands, we couldn't be more excited to partner with them in this journey of building a nutritionally stronger India and creating an ecosystem of exciting, innovative products that offer functional benefits over high sugar and empty calories."

Founder and chief executive officer of Sixth Sense Ventures, Nikhil Vora, said, "The Storia story is one that we, the Sixth Sense team, believe is in line with the evolution of the Indian consumer. Even though beverages as a category is one of the toughest consumer categories to crack, we believe that the right distribution strategy (offline focused) and a well-rounded product portfolio (targeting niche segments and expanding into related categories) can be a strong combination to crack the space. The secular trend towards habits that promote a healthy wellbeing, and a packaged beverage industry dominated by high-sugar and carbonated drinks, lay the perfect foundation for a new-age player to cater to the accelerating demand growth for healthier beverages. With its focus on shakes, Storia is in a sweet spot to create strong brand salience as none of the incumbents (Mother Dairy, Amul, Cavin, etc.) focus on milkshakes as a core category. Thus the category has seen limited to no product or brand innovation. We are excited to join Vishal and the rest of the Storia team in their journey!"

Launched in April 2017, Storia finds its roots in celebrating togetherness that brings joy through food and stories. Considering beverages is an offline-dominated category, the company has employed a pan-India omni-channel distribution strategy; Storia sells through General Trade, Modern Trade, Institutions, HoReCa, online marketplaces, and their website. Despite the pandemic's detrimental impact on the offline realm, Storia has maintained a positive growth rate in FY21.