I’m a safe investor, says Kareena Kapoor Khan as she picks up stake in D2C brand Pluckk

Bollywood actor Kareena Kapoor Khan picked up a stake in fresh produce D2C delivery brand Pluckk for an undisclosed amount, the brand revealed in Mumbai on Wednesday, making her the latest from the film industry to invest in early-stage ventures even as start-ups have been facing a funding winter.  

“I’m a person who always plays (it) safe. I wouldn’t invest in start-ups just like that. I’m quite old school in my thought. But the food world is on a high right now. Farm-to-table experiences, DIY kits, everyone is talking about it. For me, it was an instant connect. I don’t look at balance sheets, but I look at something I know and believe in would work,” Kapoor Khan told Business Today. 

She doesn’t plan on being involved in the brand’s day-to-day operations but hopes that her name being associated with it and her social media reach will help families and working mothers take note of Pluckk and help it grow 5–7x by 2024-25, as envisioned by the brand. “With their expansion, I would also like to expand my investment and see how that goes.”  

Kapoor Khan said she would consider investing in more brands if she is drawn to them organically. “I’ve always been a safe investor, so this is just the start. Let’s see.”  

Several top female actors from Bollywood such as Katrina Kaif (Kay Beauty), Alia Bhatt (Ed-a-Mamma), Deepika Padukone (82°E), Priyanka Chopra Jonas (Anomaly) have jumped into entrepreneurship. Others such as Shraddha Kapoor, Malaika Arora, Anushka Sharma, Shilpa Shetty, Taapsee Pannu, Dia Mirza have also joined the bandwagon, with several of them doing double duty of brand ambassador and investor. Big names from the south such as Nayanthara, Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Rashmika Mandanna have also dived into the trend. 

Pluckk Co-Founder & CEO Prateek Gupta sees the association as one with intangible benefits. “It’s a partnership which benefits the whole company and its vision. Investments can be raised from different sources. But from this kind of a source, it has a lot more meaning and brings with it unique expertise and ability which any other sources cannot get us,” he told Business Today. 

Industry experts say movie stars typically buy less than 10% stake and function as angel investors. The startup-celebrity associations prove to be a win-win for both parties. It’s a wealth management option for the celebrity. Often, startups are not able to afford celebrities, so they pay celebs a certain percentage of the endorsement fee and the rest in stocks in their company, according to experts.  

“Today, most female actors are looking at start-ups seriously across categories—beauty, cosmetics, hair, skin, clothing, even jewellery. Their first preference is to do an investment and structure more integrated models around them,” Bunty Sajdeh, MD & CEO of talent management firm Dharma Cornerstone Agency had told Business Today earlier. 

Pluckk’s Gupta said their business model is to turn profitable at a city-level. “Every city we start, its takes 2-2.5 years to become profitable. We started with Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Pune. We want to penetrate these cities deeply and then be present in 15-20 cities in India.”  

Seed funded by Exponentia Ventures, Pluckk plans to expand to other cities in the coming quarters. It retails its products through its own D2C and other marketplace channels.