Homegrown conglomerate ITC has announced the acquisition of Sproutlife Foods, which owns Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) brand Yoga Bar. According to media reports, ITC has signed a binding term sheet to acquire 100 percent shares of Sprout life Foods over a period of three to four years.
ITC will buy a 47.5 percent stake in Sproutlife Foods over by March 31, 2025, in tranches. The balance stake will be acquired on the basis of pre-defined valuation criteria subject to other conditions agreed to in the binding documents. The startup had registered a turnover of Rs 68 crore in 2021-22. As per media reports, the revenue of Sproutlife Foods over more than doubled in the last three years from Rs 32 crore. Started in August 2014 by Suhasini and Anindita Sampat Kumar, Yoga Bar has a product portfolio ranging from bars and muesli to baby food and whey protein.
This ITC’s third investment in a D2C brand. In April 2022, ITC proposed to acquire 10% stake in Blupin Technologies, the company behind brand Mylo. Founded in 2017, Mylo, is a full stack community eco-system focused on the parenting journey of young families. Beyond personalised content and an active community, Mylo also offers its users direct-to-consumer (D2C) personal care brands. In October 2022, ITC announced that it will make investments in Mother Sparsh. Mother Sparsh is a premium ayurveda and personal care brand launched in 2016 by Himanshu Gandhi and Rishu Gandhi.
Several large other homegrown FMCG companies such as Marico Ltd and Kolkata-based Emami have also invested in new-age online brands.