The Exchanges

Q So, so Arati, before we dive deep into, uh, the journey of yours and Oziva, Could you share some high level numbers with our audience on, on what's the revenue like? How many consumers have used Ozima till now? And how has the journey like year on year growth rate been?

A So Siddharth, today, you know, we are predominantly sitting at between 150 to 180 CR, right? Uh, uh, our, uh, growth for the last three years, we've grown at a one 40% CAGR and, uh, I think over the last three, four years, 2.5 million people or 25 black people have used our products, which in itself is, you know, I think health is much difficult kind of for a new space to, you know, to be operating in India, right? And for me, I think one thing that has led to this growth also is because, you know, one of the core pillars that we say in the company is the product, right? Because if the product is great, right, I think all other Things can be built around it, right? So that's been the journey so far.

AI assessment note: “we are predominantly sitting at between 150 to 180 CR, right? Uh, uh, our, uh, growth”

Q And, uh, you were able to scale very rapidly from 20 crores after raising the first round of Matrix, right? To when you raised the twelve million round from eight roads. At that point of time, we were at hundred crores of revenue. What brought that rapid scale of five X within a year span of time?

A I think two things which were there because imagine it was also a first institutional race where, you know, we did have the luxury to invest into the business, which we didn't have obviously the first three, four years. Right. And the things that were working well for us, we just, you know, kind of ensured that we invested far more higher on those High ROI kind of channels or strategies, right? I think that's one of the things. Another thing, if you remember, that has happened was the last two years have been very different, right? There has been an accelerated adoption of digital in the last two years. There has also been an inclination towards health that has increased, right, because of COVID. I think during the first impact, we've seen the baseline going up in general, and that baseline, while it has reduced, right, to a certain extent, so I have known brands which grew five X, but stay Even at the baseline going down, they would still be a two X of their initial numbers. And hence, I think that's also an important macroeconomic change that has happened of how consumers are thinking or are they willing to invest in their health? So that's also one of the reasons.

AI assessment note: “I think two things which were there... luxury to invest into the business”

Q And, uh, how did you decide what were your first four products? And then my next question would be, which is the product that worked out really well among the four? And why do you think is the reason for that?

A We launched with four health drinks to kind of, you know, initially, right? One was protein and herbs men, one was protein and herbs women, right? Uh, and today also, like, it's one of the, it's a top seller for us, right? It is in our top 10 product list, both these two products. Having said that, I think because it was built based on the consumer insight, right? Uh, as I said that, you know, it was the first health drink which had no ingredients or, you know, artificial ingredients in general. And also, it was not just providing protein, which is a major macronutrient. It also had micronutrients. At the same time, as I said earlier, it had a lot of herbal extracts, which help in balancing hormones, right? And I think that's where the first product that kind of worked very well, where our NPS of the product was very high, right, was the protein in herbs women. Also, globally, what we realized was that, you know, uh, you know, clean eating as a concept, right, is, is a lot first adopted by women and In, in the global or in the Western market as well, which is where we saw the same, uh, kind of trend in India as well, right? More health conscious, looking at the food labels, right? Or ingredients and okay to pay a bit premium because the products were not the cheapest one. I think it was predominantly its value for money is what we believe in. And I think that was the first prod…

AI assessment note: “the first product that kind of worked very well... was the protein in herbs women”

Q And, uh, till now we talked about things that worked out. What are some of the things that didn't work out during the OZiva journey from 2016 till now? And what are your learnings from them?

A There are a lot of things that have not worked out. I think if I have to go back to thinking about, you know, even the first business that we were in, right, which was the services play, it was so important to understand that, you know, that, that call to pivot, right, is also an important call, you know, when to take it, right, because, Uh, you know, for us, uh, at least that was a pivotal point in our, when we decided that services to products need to happen in the country, right? Another important decision that we had to take was, uh, you know, going from, say, just being nutrition, right? To evolving to a broader play within a consumer health. You know, things look simple when, again, when you look in hindsight, but I think when you have a strong equity in nutrition, right, there are obviously questions asked that why are you going beyond nutrition? What is, is this the right time to go? And we decided as a company that we would take that path. Right. Uh, and, uh, I think we still have to prove that model. I don't think so. Uh, you know, that yet, We have proven that, you know, the decision that we have taken, right? But I think the next five years, I'm extremely sure that, you know, that the way we expect us today, 90% of the revenues come from nutrition and 10 from the other categories that we're operating in. At a large scale of say, 500 crore, I believe that would be sa…

AI assessment note: “even the first business that we were in, right, which was the services play”

Q And a very interesting part is, uh, when you were growing from zero to 20 crores, did you get any funding options from the market or is it because it was, was it a choice or was it an accident that you took that journey?

A So, you know, Siddharth, good question. In hindsight, we do very less marketing. We do very little marketing. Work good, innovation good. But I realized very few people knew about us, right? As a company that is doing this work. And I remember the first time the three, four first, uh, you know, uh, you know, we raised, uh, some money Titan came in, right? Titan was the first, uh, fund to actually identify us, uh, which is by Kunal and, uh, you know, Rohit when they first discovered us, right? Then they said, you're building a rock solid kind of a thing, right? You've been profitable. You have these new kind of products that you've been building, right? And I think from there on, the VC community is very small, right? So I think that's when they discovered that, you know, oh, there is some thing called Oziva who are doing some good work, right? In Mumbai and predominant, and I think that's how the journey started, uh, Uh, of the discovery.

AI assessment note: “Titan was the first, uh, fund to actually identify us”

Q And when, when matrix came in, uh, at that point of time, the revenue was 20 crores. Uh, uh, so how did you build that revenue? From 2016 to 2020, you know, first starting with four products. And then if you could share how many SKUs you launched during that course of time.

A I think for us to even today, you know, seven percent of our revenues come from say top 10, 12 products, right? Because it's all each. Products, sub-product for me is almost like a, each product is like a sub-brand, right, to me. How, say for example, how Live-Fifty-Two is for Himalaya, right? For me, Herd Balance PCOS is a similar kind of a product for, you know, for PCOS, which is a five 50 crore market, right? Uh, ideally, I think the first three, four years, We were understanding digital also, right? Because it was a new insight. We also had rejections, as I was saying, by the retail outlets. We went to the retail centers. They said, nahi rak sakte, right? Toh pehle ek-do saal toh hohi, you know, that was a learning that was happening. And we were working, the first office was from my home, right? Where was this, uh, if you've ever lived in Mumbai, Mumbai has the small houses, and imagine within that small, I mean, my, The Chota Sa Hall was converted into our office space, right? So we were operating with five, six people working from my home, right? In the initial two, three years through the limited capital that we had, right? We, we were growing based on that by, you know, and we were profitable in the first, obviously few years of our, uh, initial journey. Uh, so that's been the, so far, like, journey of the first two years. Reinvesting, listening to the consumers, righ…

AI assessment note: “first two, three years through the limited capital that we had, right? We, we were growing”