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https://www.vccircle.com/sixth-sense-ventures-backs-healthy-beverage-brand-storia

Sixth Sense Ventures backs healthy beverage brand Storia

Consumer focused venture capital firm Sixth Sense Ventures has invested in healthy beverage and snack startup Storia Foods and Beverages Pvt Ltd in its new bet from its third fund.

Storia will use the fresh capital to boost its marketing efforts and distribution channels, according to a statement. It did not disclose the financial details of the transaction.

Storia was founded in 2016 by Vishal Shah, who previously worked with corporates such as Novigo America, Abbott and Piramal Healthcare. The rest of the startup’s core team comes with a combined experience of over 70 years from major fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies such as Coca Cola, Unilever, and Parle, it said.

Storia is essentially a ready-to-drink beverage brand with core focus on shakes while beverage whitener and coconut water also form a part of its product portfolio.

The statement noted that the packaged beverage market is a $50 billion opportunity and is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12% as consumers transitions to a healthy lifestyle.

“Storia, with their focus on shakes, 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/brand innovation,” explained Nikhil Vora, founder and CEO, Sixth Sense Ventures.

Sixth Sense was founded in 2014 by Vora, former managing director and co-head of research at IDFC Securities. He was also an early investor in Paytm parent One97 Communications Ltd and walked away with a 75-fold gain on the investment by selling his stake to Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

Earlier this month, VCCircle reported that Sixth Sense Ventures is set to close its third fund at Rs 2,300-2,400 crore ($309-323 million), which is at least 60% higher than the initial target and one of the largest domestic fund-raise by any Indian venture capital fund.

In July, Sixth Sense Ventures invested in plant-based meat company GoodDot Foods Pvt Ltd. Its investments in Veeba Foods, Soothe Healthcare (Paree), LEAP India, Fullife, and Eupheus Learning are some other examples of the firm’s successful bets over the years.

Earlier this week, VCCircle reported that Sixth Sense Ventures is in talks to invest in dog food company Dogsee Chew.