Shauravi Malik & Slurrp Farm: The Journey Fueling India's Healthy Kids Food Revolution
From investment banking to pioneering healthy kids' food in India. Discover Shauravi Malik's journey building Slurrp Farm, reviving millets & scaling a D2C brand.
Shauravi Malik, Co-founder of Wholsum Foods (the parent company of beloved children's food brand Slurrp Farm), has charted a fascinating course from the high-stakes world of international finance to the front lines of India's burgeoning healthy food movement. Her story, shared candidly on the Founder Thesis podcast, is one of sharp pivots, resilience through challenges, and a deep-seated mission to change how India's children eat, for the better.
Check out the video of the conversation here or read on for insights.
From Global Finance to Local Impact 🌏
Shauravi's early career path seemed destined for global finance. Armed with an Economics degree from Delhi's prestigious St. Stephen's College and a Master's from the University of Cambridge, she dove into the demanding environment of investment banking.
She spent six formative years at J.P. Morgan in London, first as an Analyst in M&A Advisory focusing on Consumer, Healthcare, and Retail, and later as an Associate in Leveraged Finance and High Yield Origination. This period involved intense learning curves, like being thrown into the deep end building complex financial models overnight.
"It was, like, first month into the job, and I was like, I don't know how to build a DCF model. He's like, you'll know by tomorrow morning."
Following J.P. Morgan, Shauravi joined Virgin Management Ltd. (Richard Branson's family office) as an Investment Manager for Corporate Finance and Special Situations from 2010-2013. This role exposed her to an "ideas factory," evaluating diverse businesses from airlines (Virgin Galactic) and banking (Northern Rock acquisition) to gyms and even motorbike limos.
Despite working on multi-billion dollar deals, a desire grew to "get her hands dirtier" and create tangible impact, moving away from a world of multiplying zeros on spreadsheets.
The Spark: Why Slurrp Farm? 🌱
The idea for Slurrp Farm wasn't a single lightbulb moment but a confluence of observations and personal experiences. Living in London, Shauravi and her eventual co-founder, Meghna Narayan (whom she met through a mutual friend), noticed a stark difference between the healthy, convenient children's food options available abroad versus in India.
Friends visiting from India started asking them to bring back baby food, highlighting a clear market gap. This resonated deeply when Meghna had her daughter, Nandita, and struggled to find nutritious, traditional options readily available on Indian shelves.
"From the time that you were a child to now, the choice on the shelf for what a baby or a child eats is pretty much the same."
They saw an opportunity driven by India's development: rising disposable incomes, increased health consciousness, and a need for convenient yet healthy food solutions. Furthermore, Meghna's work in public health exposed her to India's alarming malnutrition statistics – affecting children across the economic spectrum due to poor dietary habits, not just poverty.
This ignited a shared mission: to leverage their skills, build a successful business, and ultimately tackle the larger issue of childhood nutrition in India by reviving traditional, healthy ingredients.
Early Days & Finding the Right Path 🧭
Starting Wholsum Foods in August 2014, the initial journey involved significant learning and pivoting. Their first product idea, based on Western trends, was fruit and vegetable purees. They researched manufacturing in the UK and planned import logistics. However, crucial market research revealed Indian parents preferred fresh purees and only used packaged ones occasionally (like during travel) – not a sustainable market.
The real need, they discovered, lay elsewhere: the lack of cereals and snacks made with traditional Indian supergrains like millets (ragi, jowar, bajra), which were disappearing from modern diets despite their nutritional benefits.
"The interesting thing was that you have the dream and the vision, but you realize the answer is your grandmother's kitchen."
This led to a pivot towards millet-based products. Developing the first ragi cookies took 12 months, involving finding a childhood friend to create the initial recipe and then navigating the complex world of food manufacturing in India. They faced challenges finding manufacturers willing to work with new ingredients and healthier formulations, often being pushed towards standard, less healthy options. Shauravi candidly mentions they had to "kiss a lot of frogs" to find the right partners who believed in their vision beyond immediate commercial gain.
Building the Brand & Navigating Challenges 🏗️
Launching in 2016, Slurrp Farm initially focused on offline retail in Delhi, alongside early listings on Amazon and BigBasket. They faced hurdles like the complex pre-GST tax system for interstate sales. Building an offline presence proved incredibly challenging and cash-intensive.
Distribution Difficulties: Setting up a salesforce and managing distribution across cities like Bangalore and Bombay was tough, with learnings about different incentive structures and team management.
Cash Flow Crunch: Traditional retail involved long payment cycles, significantly straining cash flow. Shauravi recalls Sundays spent chasing payments.
Policy Impact: Key policy changes significantly impacted their trajectory:
GST (Goods and Services Tax): A "game changer" that unified India into a single market, drastically simplifying logistics and enabling nationwide reach for startups.
Demonetization: Leveled the playing field by reducing cash transactions and promoting digital payments, easing a major operational headache.
They invested heavily in brand building from the start, led by co-founder and childhood friend Umang Bhattacharya, a graphic designer and video artist. The distinct, playful packaging featuring Indian animals (rhino, elephant, monkey, tiger, bear, parrot) reflects this design-first approach.
Funding & The COVID Pivot 💰➡️💻
Slurrp Farm was initially bootstrapped using Shauravi and Meghna's personal savings.
2018: Raised their first friends and family round. They prioritized strategic investors who brought expertise (marketing, logistics, fundraising advice) over just maximizing capital.
Early 2020: Started fundraising for the next round just as COVID-19 hit. The pandemic brought immense challenges:
Offline retail and payments froze.
Cash flow dried up, forcing the founders to reinvest personal funds.
The Pivot: They made the tough decision to cut their offline business (which was ~50% of revenue) and go all-in on digital channels (their own website, Amazon, BigBasket).
Unexpected Outcome: This forced discipline led them to cut unprofitable products and operations. From June 2020 onwards, Slurrp Farm became P&L positive. The increased digital adoption by consumers fueled rapid growth.
Institutional Funding: Amidst the crisis, Fireside Ventures reached out (having first met them in 2016). This led to their first institutional funding round, highlighting the resilience and potential shown during the pivot.
"We cut our offline business... But on a P&L basis, we turned positive... because you are forced to operate in discipline."
Growth & Product Evolution 📈🥣
The strategic shift to digital unlocked significant growth. Slurrp Farm's monthly run rate grew impressively:
Pre-COVID: ~ ₹40-50 lakhs per month
Post-Pivot (as of podcast recording): ~ ₹1.2 crores per month
Their product range expanded organically, often inspired by what the founders fed their own children:
Core Cereals: Expanded from 3 to ~12 variants.
Pancakes & Dosas: Millet-based mixes (like the popular beetroot and palak dosa mixes) catering to toddlers and older kids (and adults!).
Superfoods & Essentials: Sprouted Ragi powder, Nut Powder, Jaggery Powder.
Snacks: Puffed snacks.
Baking Mixes: Launched during COVID lockdowns when home baking surged.
Future Pipeline: Plans include an immunity-boosting milk mix, millet noodles, and offering core millet flours.
Today, about one-third of their sales come directly from the Slurrp Farm website, driven by digital marketing (Facebook, Instagram ads) and strong customer loyalty.
Vision for the Future ✨
Shauravi and the Slurrp Farm team are driven by a long-term vision to fundamentally improve children's nutrition in India and beyond. They believe in making healthy eating delicious and accessible, bringing back nutrient-dense traditional grains, and educating consumers.
Their focus remains on the children's market, believing that positive dietary changes often start with the youngest generation. They see D2C not just as a sales channel but as a crucial platform for storytelling and building a direct relationship with their community. Future plans even include creating storybooks featuring their brand characters to engage directly with kids.
From navigating the complexities of finance to mastering the nuances of food manufacturing and D2C branding in India, Shauravi Malik's journey with Slurrp Farm is a testament to entrepreneurial resilience, purpose-driven business building, and the power of finding modern solutions rooted in traditional wisdom.
Listen now!
Before you go……the analytics only tell me so much, I want to hear what you feel and think about the conversations.
Mail me at ad@thepodium.in with your comments & feedback or if you just want to hear my comments on your startup idea - I love getting your emails!
Until the next founder's thesis📕,
Your host, AD