Chennai-based start-up Chloroplast Foods was one of the six start-ups to bag on-the-spot funding of up to Rs.10 lakh at IIT Bombay’s Entrepreneurship Summit 2015.

Founded seven months ago by three college friends, the start-up was shortlisted from 260 applications. Chloroplast Foods aims to supply 30 preservative-free snacks online, through their website www.snackexperts.com, by tapping into the growing healthy snacks market.

The team’s 10-minute presentation at the ‘10 Minute Million’ event on Sunday received instant funding pledges from four investors, including Ajeet Khurana, CEO of IIT-B’s Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and angel investors Taha Nabee, V.C. Karthik, and Ravi Gururaj.

“We have created these products from unique recipes. Since this is a subscription-based model, they are prepared after a customer places an order. Within seven days, the customer gets a fresh product that has a 30-day shelf life. We offer five unique varieties for Rs.699,” said Arul Murugan Palanichamy, a co-founder of snackexperts.com.

The 27-year-old B. Tech graduate from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, worked with a food processing company for seven years before starting his own venture.

He said the money would help them expand from a leased bakery unit to a bigger bulk production facility.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Mumbai / by Satish Nandgaonkar / Mumbai – February 03rd, 2015