Apeksha Gourmet Jar Private Ltd, the parent company of The Gourmet Jar, a Noida-based company that produces artisanal spreads, dips, preserves, and sauces, has raised $150,000 in a round led by DevX Venture Fund, the investment arm of DevX Co-working & Accelerator.
Existing investors also participated in the round, according to the company. The Gourmet Jar was founded in 2012 and operates a 14,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Noida with an all-female production team.
DevX co-founder Umesh Uttamchandani stated, “Our investment approach largely revolves around having a strong founding team since that is what early-stage investing is all about. The pandemic has both reawakened and reinforced the focus on home-kitchens, as customers seek newer tastes and experiences.”
Quality-conscious people are experimenting with newer tastes, recipes and condiments. The HoReCa segment as a whole too, is opening up to ethically sound brands which offer high quality products, he said. “Against this backdrop and taking into consideration the company’s strong product, the time was ripe for partnering with them. It is an ethical brand with strong production foundations, catered to by a women-only team and a robust farm-to-jar approach,” he added.
Apeksha Jain, the company’s founder, said, the funding comes at a time when the brand is bullish on developing its online channels and introducing new products. “The funding will help to increase customer base, expand production and synergise logistics along with growing our technology stack. We aim at being the brand of choice in more and more homes and the HoReCa segment as well and the funding is a definitive step in that direction,” she said.
The DevX Venture Fund makes investments in early-stage start-ups. So far, it has primarily invested in fintech, SaaS, healthcare, proptech, agritech, and deep tech.
