Flavoured greek yoghurt may seem like the kind of passing fad that disappears as miraculously as they appear, but the success of home-grown greek yoghurt brand Epigamia may well prove sceptics wrong. Powered by a rapid rise in popularity among young customers in the limited urban areas the brand is available in, Drums Food International (DFI) — which owns the Epigamia brand — has seen a flurry of investments. The most recent was actor Deepika Padukone, who is now also the face of the brand.
Flavoured greek yoghurt has not generally been a popular category in the indian market, which is dominated by curd and dahi products. However, DFI’s strategy to target a health-conscious, upwardly mobile customer base concentrated in cities seems to be paying off. For instance, launched in 2015 by Rohan Mirchandani, Uday Thakker, Chef Ganesh Krishnamoorthy, and Rahul Jain as a Greek yoghurt brand, it has since been able to expand its portfolio to include artisanal curd, snack packs, mishti doi (an Indian sweet curd), and smoothies.
In January this year, it had announced that it has raised $25.58 million (`182 crore) from a Series C funding round led Belgium-based investment firm Verlinvest and US-based investor Danone Manifesto Ventures, the venture investment arm of Danone Manifesto. Danone’s investment in Epigamia, while not a large one, is telling since the French food major had exited its dairy business in India just a year ago.
“We are convinced of Epigamia’s great growth potential thanks to its unique positioning on the Indian dairy market. We look forward to putting Danone’s resources and expertise to use in supporting Epigamia as their business continues to expand across India,” Laurent Marcel, MD, of Danone Manifesto Ventures had said.
This round had been preceded by a Series B round in July 2017 where DFI had raised $12.63 million (`90 crore) from investors including Verlinvest, InnoVen Capital and DSG Consumer Partners (DSGCP). Epigamia has also said that it is looking at expanding its reach from 10,000 retailing touch points in cities like Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, and Kolkata, alongside its presence in supermarket chains like Reliance Fresh, Big Bazaar, Big Basket and Amazon. “Our five-year vision is to expand distribution across 50,000 touch points,” Jain has said. According to industry estimates, the Indian yoghurt market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 20 per cent between FY18-23.
Deepika to be face of Epigamia
Not only is Deepika Padukone an investor in the fast growing brand, she is also set to be its face in marketing campaigns as brand ambassador