Bangalore-based couple Jashid Hameed and Prithvi Kini founded Nuvedo, a startup dedicated to introducing the healing benefits of functional mushrooms to health-conscious individuals across India. Their journey, both personal and entrepreneurial, began when they met on a dating app six years ago and found common ground in their passion for sustainability and wellness.
Before launching Nuvedo, Jashid, a Manufacturing Engineer from BITS Pilani, was working as an area operations manager at Aditya Birla Fashion Retail. However, he became disillusioned with the environmental impact of the textile industry, which conflicted with his personal values. Meanwhile, Prithvi was thriving in deep technology startups, including India’s first quantum cybersecurity company, but she felt drawn to the food industry and its crucial role in sustainability.
In 2020, they decided to leave their established careers and take a year-long break to volunteer on various farms across India, gaining hands-on experience in the country’s food systems. During this time, they also explored the benefits of mushrooms, a food they had been consuming regularly to manage allergies and gut issues, thanks to a friend from the United States.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted their supply of imported mushroom supplements, prompting them to search for local alternatives. This search revealed a gap in the market, inspiring them to create Nuvedo, a Bangalore-based startup that offers mushroom growing kits and a wide range of mushroom extracts.
Nuvedo’s flagship product, the Mushroom Growing Kit, allows users to grow exotic varieties of mushrooms at home. The kit is entirely chemical-free and organic, ensuring that customers harvest the freshest mushrooms possible. Along with the kit, customers receive educational content, recipes, and access to an online community of mushroom enthusiasts.
Starting with a modest investment of Rs 10,000 in April 2021, Jashid and Prithvi transformed a room in their apartment into a makeshift lab. As they refined their techniques and the business grew, they invested Rs 30 lakh of their savings to establish a proper mushroom lab. By October 2021, Nuvedo officially launched with its first product. Over time, the product line expanded to include 15 SKUs, covering mushroom kits, extracts, and spawns.
Financially, Nuvedo has seen impressive growth. The company generated Rs 6 lakh in its first year (FY22), which quadrupled to Rs 25 lakh in the second year (FY23). In FY24, Nuvedo is on track to surpass Rs 50 lakh in revenue.
Recently, Jashid and Prithvi appeared on Shark Tank India Season 3. Although they didn’t secure funding, the exposure significantly increased their sales and website traffic, which surged by 1,100%. Additionally, Nuvedo received a grant from the government of Karnataka, which will help them expand research and production capabilities.
Looking ahead, Nuvedo aims to build a community-driven brand for mushroom enthusiasts, offering solutions for every stage of their journey, from cultivation to consumption. The couple successfully organized India’s first mushroom festival last year, and they continue to work towards establishing a thriving ecosystem around mushrooms.