Gladful, a clean-label food brand focused on nutrition for children, has raised Rs. 8 crore in a funding round led by Eternal Capital by former BharatPe COO Dhruv Dhanraj Bahl. The round also saw participation from existing investors Antler India and Venture Catalysts, both of whom doubled down on their investment in the brand. Other participants include RWA Advisors, Arav Ventures, and angels Aman Tekriwal, and Sairam Krishnamurthy.
Earlier, the brand raised Rs. 7 crore—from Antler India, Venture Catalysts, and Shark Tank—in a seed round in 2023.
Gladful was founded by Parul Sharma and her brother Manu Sharma, born out of a personal realisation that even the most informed Indian households were falling short on everyday nutrition for children. Despite Parul’s 15-year career building household brands like Cadbury Silk and 5 Star, repeated advice from paediatricians to improve her children’s protein intake revealed a systemic gap in accessible, clean-label nutrition. This insight, combined with Manu’s lifelong experience managing pancreatitis since childhood and understanding the importance of balanced, clean food, led the siblings to rethink the nutrition landscape for Indian families. In 2022, they launched Gladful to make everyday, protein and fibre-rich nutrition easier, safer, and more effective—starting with breakfast, where the nutritional shortfall is most acute.
The brand’s products, which are all centred around breakfast like chilla, dosa, pancake, and idli, provide 5–8 gms of protein per serve from largely plant-based sources. They are designed to prepare 10-minute meals—free from palm oil, refined sugar, maltodextrin, and other harmful additives. All of Gladful’s products are manufactured in US FDA-registered facilities and tailored to the nutritional needs of growing children.
Recently, Gladful also entered the Rs. 12,000 crore kids’ health drinks segment with NutraMilk — a clean-label alternative made with nuts, seeds, jaggery, dates, and 25 essential vitamins and minerals. The category expansion was driven by deep consumer insights, especially from mothers seeking a nutritious, sugar-free milk mix for daily consumption.
“We’re here to redefine childhood nutrition and wellness in India. From breakfast to mid-morning snacks to lunchboxes, we’re building a future where clean, protein-packed meals are the default, not the exception. We understand how tough parenting is today and are continuously working towards solutions that make parenting easy,” said Parul Sharma, Co-founder & CEO, Gladful.
The company plans to use the fresh capital to strengthen its core team across R&D, marketing, and growth; invest in innovation; and deepen digital distribution—especially on quick-commerce platforms.
“Gladful is creating a ‘trusted, protein-first’ brand that parents have been searching for — an easy, guilt-free ‘yes’ in every kitchen. Today’s parents are reading the fine print on health drinks and are rejecting the old guard of sugar and fillers. Gladful’s offering, especially their Nutra milk mix, is the intelligent answer to that shift. We invested because with them, you’re not just trusting a product, you’re also trusting the founders, their commitment to the vision, and their stellar execution,” added Dhruv Dhanraj Bahl, Founder & Managing Partner, Eternal Capital.
With a customer base of over 20,000, the brand is witnessing strong repeat rates and consistent month-on-month growth, with its breakfast range continuing to be the primary revenue driver. The company has scaled 3x post its seed round, and now aims to double down on its breakfast category and scale its health drinks segment, while strengthening its customer base over the next 12 months.
Speaking on their follow-on investment, Rajiv Srivatsa, Partner at Antler India, said, “Our continued investment in Gladful reflects our belief in their long-term vision and ability to scale. They’ve struck a rare balance: clean, nutrition-forward products that also hit the right taste notes for kids. Strong repeat rates and thoughtful category expansion make them a standout in India’s growing kids’ nutrition space.”
Gladful is currently available via its D2C website, Amazon, Flipkart, Zepto, and Blinkit, with plans to deepen its presence across select Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. Over a period of next three years, the brand is poised to cross Rs. 60 crore in revenue and build a strong omni-channel presence.
