Bengaluru’s startup Goodmylk leads India to healthy vegan food

In 2016, when Abhay Rangan was in the middle of an animal rights awareness campaign, someone walked up to him and said, ‘vegan alternatives are expensive, and so I don’t want to be vegan‘. The very statement got the young Bengaluru lad thinking. He soon recognized, speaking against animal agriculture and promoting veganism would be incomplete without affordable and available plant-based food products. And, so in their home kitchen, the mother-son duo Veena S and then the 19-year-old Abhay Rangan began to make plant-based curd. Today, their brand Goodmylk has plant-based milk from cashew and oats. It also offers a range of vegan peanut dahi, cheese and paneer, spreads and butters and plant-based nutrition products. The young plantrepreneur and animal rights activist was finally bringing vegan milk and more to Indian homes.

Venganarke and Values

On 20 November 2017, Veganarke Enterprises Private Limited was incorporated with an authorized share capital of Rs.300,000. The set of six values established helped the company to grow leaps and bounds in the coming years. They are: 

i. Make plant-based food affordable and accessible.

ii. Manufacture high-quality, safe products. 

iii. Create a future where animal agriculture does not exist.

iv. Enable sustainable livelihoods.

v. Be a conscious company creating a safer environment for all.

vi. Evaluate the corporate impact on Quadruple Bottomline – People, Planet, Animals, Profit.

The Task

In the early days of 2017, Abhay’s mom Veena spent long nights making plant-based curd and milk at home, using household utensils. Ensuring the products were perfectly fresh in the morning and ready to go, Abhay, then an engineering student at the CMR Institute of Technology in Bengaluru, India, would begin his round of deliveries. He traveled 500km every week on his moped throughout Bangalore with a backpack full of plant-based curd and milk. As orders increased, deliveries proved inefficient. Also, the less shelf-stable products began to spoil before reaching their destination.

That is when the mother-son duo decided to invest in some machinery. Soon the delivery duties were also taken over by two delivery partners, Prashanth I and Lokesh B. The company rebranded itself as Goodmylk (from Veganarke) and onboarded a COO too. Abhay shifted his focus to research cheaper methods for manufacturing to control the investment and make plant-based dairy options accessible and affordable to a fast-growing clientele. 

He also started the website Goodmylk.  

The Funding

After the first two rounds of funding, in 2018 and 2020, GoodMylk raised another $1 million in a seed round extension in 2021 from a clutch of domestic and international angel investors. Investors Jinisha Sharma, Aditya Agarwal (AIprime Nutritions Pvt Ltd), Victoria and Abhishek Shroff, Sustainable Food Ventures, Ice Breakers Technologies Syndicate via Angellist, and Bento Box join existing investors Sid Kothari and VegInvest Trust who also participated in this round. These funds will help to expand the product portfolio and strengthen distribution channels for more accessibility across India. 

To date, the plant-based food startup has raised $1.8 million

Four years later 

The self-identified plantrepreneur, Abhay Rangan is making plant-based waves in the Indian dairy market. Goodmylk currently has over 2,000 customers, 300 ongoing subscriptions, and 25,000 fulfilled orders. 

Since May 2019, when the company entered retail space with Godrej Nature’s Basket, its retail business has been steadily growing. 

In addition, the company’s online presence has bold plans for taking a big bite out of the Indian dairy market. Goodmylk’s Subcription Model is also garnering more repeat customers. Goodmylk offers free delivery in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, and Hyderabad and free shipping for orders above INR 450 for the rest of India.

Awards

Forbes magazine named Abhay one of Asia’s 30 under 30 achievers, making him one of the youngest Indian entrepreneurs to get on the 2019 list. It is the third time Abhay appeared in Forbes. He strongly believes their validation gives Goodmylk more credibility, especially when he speaks to venture capitalists and investors.

The company has also won awards like: –

• Social Impact Award, NVC, CU Boulder, 2018
• Vegan Curd Award, PETA, 2019

The Future

The future of the world is plant-based food. According to a study by Credit Suisse, the market for alternative meat and dairy could grow from USD 14 billion currently to USD 1.4 trillion by 2050. Already companies like Goodmylk, Evolved Foods, and Nutiva are working to meet rising demand. Abhay Rangan, the CEO of the startup Veganarke, is in the right place at the right time. He is empowering the Indian vegetarian population and even meat lovers to turn vegan for better health.