Back in 2011, when three friends Rohit Shah, Kartikey Dadoo and Kanishk Yadav first moved to the US, Yoga studios were on every corner of the block. They felt this was a validation that we as Indians a lot of times don’t take our ancient rituals, history, knowledge seriously until it’s Westernised. During the same period cannabis started making a comeback for its nutritional and medicinal benefits in the US. The green rush was just starting.
Rohit recalls, “This made us do more research on “Bhang” which we had heard about in our ancient Vedas, Ayurvedic scriptures etc. Digging deep in the ancient knowledge combined with modern tech, it was evident that the socio economic benefits this plant would have on every individual’s life would be significant. There was no time to waste, we had to do something about it.”
Breaking the stigma
Almost 5 years ago, the trio returned to India and envisioned breaking the stigma around Cannabis here. And that’s how Hemp Horizons was born.
Over the years, they identified the huge benefits the plant has on one’s well being and even significant socio economic benefits and wanted to make everybody aware of it. Not only this, they have been focused on establishing the whole hemp and cannabis category in the country. Today, Hemp Horizons is the largest Hemp based Ayurvedic products Direct to Retail company in India. It also offers supply chain to other hemp companies. Hemp Horizons has witnessed a 4x growth from April 2020 till now.
The industrial hemp market is projected to surge at a CAGR of 34% from US$ 4.6 billion in 2019 to US$ 26.6 billion by 2025. However, the complex regulatory structure of industrial hemp and its usage in different countries is expected to block the market growth of industrial hemp. However, increasing demand for hemp seeds over traditional herbal seeds is driving the growth of the medicinal hemp market. The growing demand for personal care products, protein supplements, cosmetics and several other health products will boost the market in the forecast period. Hemp Horizons was the first brand to manufacture and retail hemp seed products in India since July 2018.
How difficult was it to get into the Hemp sector considering the legal implications? Rohit shares, “The hurdles in the Indian cannabis industry are manifold. From licensing, educating authorities, procuring of quality raw material, manufacturing, spreading awareness, to creating a sustainable supply chain and building a whole Cannabis category itself, the going has been tough but exciting.”
Now that the UN has legalised medical cannabis, India is certainly moving in a very progressive direction towards the acceptance of cannabis as one of the key ingredients in a lot of medical applications. With this the market for natural remedies is opening up fast.
The product line
Hemp Horizons has just launched 2 new products – Hemp Power Bar & Hemp Sativa Chocolate Powder which are completely new products in the Cannabis space in India making it the first brand to introduce these products. With the launch of the new products, the brand is all set to strengthen its presence in the B2C FMCG category.
Rohit informs, “Our product line includes Hemp Seeds, Hemp Oil & Hemp protein. We are a GMP certified, USFDA registered hemp seed processing company. Our journey began researching Ayurveda to convince authorities about Hemp benefits and subsequently we received our first license from the Ministry of Ayush in 2018 in UP to process Hemp. Later on we diversified into the Health and Wellness category with our sub brand Health Horizons.” Under this brand, the company sells products like:
- Sativa Hemp Nubs (Hemp Hearts): Healthy Dietary snack, rich in plant proteins, zero cholesterol and sugar.
- Sativa Hemp Powder: Contains all 21 amino acids, can be used with smoothies, and as a gluten free, dairy free and soy free substitute to baking flour.
- Sativa Hemp Oil (Cold Pressed): Vegan replacer for your Omega 3 and 6 deficiency.
- Hemp Oil for skin and hair ( Cold Pressed): Natural moisturiser, tones skin. Naturally unclog skin pores.
- Aloe Vera and Hemp Body Body Butter: Perfect fit for all skin types, Nourish and Dehydrate skin to rejuvenate, Calms temporary skin rashes and irritation.
- Shea Hemp and Body Butter Soap: Treats Acne and reduces the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines.
- Charcoal and Hemp Soap: Contains Tea tree oil and Charcoal which unclogs and reduces the size of pores which gives a youthful and smooth complexion.
- Hemp Sativa Chocolate Powder: Contains all essential amino acids with essential fatty acids which gives a smooth digestion process.
The future is green
The company procures its raw ingredients from Uttarakhand and its own production facility in Noida has an annual product capacity of over 200 metric tonnes. Hemp Horizons has raised seed funding of 2 crore from Mumbai Angel Network, Angellist and other VCs. Prior to the fundraise, the company was bootstrapped by the founders. The company also exports to Asian and North American markets.
Rohit outlines his future roadmap, “The future seems to be nice and bright. We are seeing a growing demand for Hemp products not just around the world but in India as well. Also, this pandemic has given a boom to healthy lifestyles which eventually increases the consumption of healthy products. We are doing R&D to launch new products and make Hemp products cheap and affordable to make it accessible to everyone. Also, FSSAI is very close to legalising hemp seed products as food in the country which will help break the stigma on a much larger scale and the market acceptance will be much higher. We are looking at product expansion and also going offline.”
