USV Pharma leads race to buy 85% stake in Wellbeing Nutrition at Rs 1,600 crore valuation

Mumbai: USV Pharma has emerged as the frontrunner for acquiring an 85% stake in Wellbeing Nutrition, valuing the direct-to-consumer supplements brand at about Rs 1,600 crore, said people familiar with the discussions.

The Mumbai-based brand, owned by Nutritionlab, counts Hindustan Unilever and Fireside Ventures among its early backers. HUL and Fireside — holding 19.8% stake each — will exit with more than fourfold returns. Both invested in Wellbeing Nutrition about three years ago when the company was valued at about Rs 350 crore.
USV Pharma is a maker of brands like Glycomet for diabetes and blood thinner Ecosprin. “Unlike many other D2C companies and founders that diluted their stake to raise millions, Wellbeing’s founder owns half the firm and has raised $10 million so far,” said one of the persons cited above. “They have held talks with multiple consumer goods and pharmaceutical companies for about a year.”

A formal announcement on the deal could come as early as this week, a second person said.
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Founder Avnish Chhabria, who owns 51% of Wellbeing Nutrition, would garner about Rs 800 crore from the transaction. He would initially sell a 35% stake with an option to dilute further in the next few years. Chhabria would continue to run the business, the people said. A serial entrepreneur and angel investor, Chhabria previously founded Scootsy, co-founded Stylista, and led international ventures such as Eliya NYC, a premium coconut water brand. Chhabria declined to comment. HUL and a senior official at USV didn’t respond to email queries. Fireside couldn’t be reached for a comment.Founded in 2019 as a digital-first, clean-label nutrition brand, Wellbeing Nutrition has nearly grown its revenue nearly threefold over the last two years, to Rs 119 crore in FY25 from Rs 42 crore in FY23. The company, however, continues to be loss-making, incurring a net loss of Rs 38 crore in FY25 due to brandbuilding investments and portfolio expansion. The acquisition of Wellbeing Nutrition will help privately held USV get a foothold in the rapidly growing market for consumer healthcare and nutrition brands. The domestic market for such products stood at Rs 21,374 crore till January on a moving annual turnover (MAT) basis, according to data from PharmaTrac.

Wellbeing Nutrition has a spectrum of consumer health and nutrition products, including whey protein, magnesium, collagen, and Omega-3 fish oil. Consumer healthcare products, mostly sold across physical and online channels, can significantly strengthen USV’s existing presence, which is currently mostly confined to the vitamin and calcium segment. USV sells multiple vitamin brands through the prescription route such as D-Rise, Aquasol A, Diataal D, and Folcure besides calcium brands like Triplecal and CVP. Overall sales for USV’s vitamin and calcium brands stood at Rs 228 crore, growing at 12% on a MAT basis till January 2026.