New Delhi : Zone Of Fresh Food aka ZOFF, one of the emerging players in the Indian spice industry has raised INR 1 crore funding in the 28th episode of Shark Tank India – Season 2. The startup has received funding from renowned Entrepreneur and boAt’s Co-founder & CMO, Aman Gupta against an equity of 1.25 percent. Given its interesting proposition, the brand caught the attention of four out of the five sharks on the show and received individual offers from Vineeta Singh, CEO, SUGAR Cosmetics, Aman Gupta, Co-Founder and CMO, boAt, Amit Jain, CEO & Co-Founder, CarDekho, and Anupam Mittal, Founder, People Group. The bootstrapped business has raised money at a valuation of Rs 80 crore.
Founded in 2018, ZOFF is the brainchild of the dynamic ‘Spice Brothers’ of Raipur, Akash, and Ashish Agarwal. The five-year-old startup is a pioneer in the utilisation of state-of-the-art cool grinding technology, Air Classifying Mills (ACMs). It is a fully mechanised automated production plant that maintains the purity, oil, aroma, and pungency of the spices. In order to deliver them in the purest form possible after grinding and retaining all their properties until consumption, ZOFF has also introduced a “Zip Lock Packaging” with 4 layers, which keeps the spices fresh and resists the external temperature.
Speaking on the Company’s vision, Akash Agrawal, Co-founder, ZOFF said, “A revolution in the spice industry is what we envisioned from the moment we established ZOFF. We’re thrilled to have Shark Aman Gupta join us in this exciting journey. To better penetrate the Indian food industry, we will also diversify our product offering as we go along, though our core focus will remain on providing our customers with spices in their best form, in terms of both flavour and nutrients.”
Further commenting on the funding, Ashish Agrawal, Co-founder, ZOFF said, “Aman’s commendable acumen in marketing and branding will be extremely valuable for our brand, and the funds raised will be partially used to beef-up marketing in a bid to acquire new users and scale the business. We intend to maintain our omnichannel strategy going forward as well, so that we continue to establish our footprint across markets using both digital and physical mediums.”
Commenting on his investment, Aman Gupta, Co-founder & CMO, boAt Lifestyle said, “The incredible growth ZOFF has experienced in such a short period of time strongly validates its product-market fit. These young individuals from Raipur are poised to redefine the production of Indian spices, owing to their tech-driven approach. I’m happy to join them on this endeavour to make ZOFF a household name in the Indian spice industry.”
In their pitch on Shark Tank India, the founders of ZOFF highlighted the positive unit economics of their business as well as their vision for the company’s future growth. They also showcased the growing demand for the Indian spice market and their innovations in the field. ZOFF has so far served over 1 million happy customers and is also accessible on leading e-commerce platforms including Amazon, Flipkart, Jio Mart, Zepto, CRED, and Big Basket.