Hocco Cofounder’s D2C Healthy Snacking Brand Phab Nets $4 Mn
Phab raised $4 million in a pre-Series A round led by OTP Ventures and Chona Family Office. The healthy-snacking brand will use the money to expand distribution, build its brand and grow its team.
Intelligence analysis by GPT-5.4 Mini
Phab, the Mumbai-based healthy-snacking startup founded by Ankit and Gayatri Chona, has secured fresh funding as it pushes across online and offline channels. The round highlights continued investor interest in protein-led packaged foods in India.
Phab is a snack company that makes healthier foods with lots of protein, like a better-for-you lunchbox snack. It just got more money to grow, like filling its backpack before a long trip so it can open in more places and reach more people.
Analysis
Funding and plans
Phab has raised $4 million in a pre-Series A round led by OTP Ventures and Chona Family Office. The company says the new capital will go toward brand building, widening its geographic reach, expanding distribution and strengthening its leadership team.
What Phab sells
Founded in 2018 by husband-wife duo Ankit and Gayatri Chona, Phab makes protein bars, milkshakes and other high-protein snacks. The company blends Ankit Chona’s background in food and restaurants with Gayatri Chona’s work as a practising nutritionist.
Where it sells and why that matters
Phab is based in Mumbai and sells through ecommerce and quick-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, Blinkit and Zepto, along with modern trade and general trade outlets. The company says nearly half its business comes from offline channels, which sets it apart from many D2C food brands that depend more heavily on online sales.
The fundraising comes a little over a year after Phab raised $2 million in a seed round, also led by OTP Ventures. That round included Capri Global, Sim & San Law Firm and a group of angel investors.
Competitive backdrop
The article places Phab in a crowded market that includes The Whole Truth, Yoga Bar and Beyond Snack. It also points to wider investor interest in the category: Good Monk recently raised $2 million in a pre-Series A round, and Salad Days raised INR 30 crore in Series A funding.
The broader context is a healthy-snacking market that the article says could become an $8.1 billion opportunity by 2033, driven by more consumer focus on protein intake, fitness and preventive healthcare, as well as rising disposable incomes and quick-commerce adoption.
Key points
- Phab raised $4 million in a pre-Series A round led by OTP Ventures and Chona Family Office.
- The company plans to use the funds for brand building, expansion, distribution and hiring.
- Founded in 2018 by Ankit and Gayatri Chona, Phab sells protein bars, milkshakes and other high-protein snacks.
- Phab says nearly half of its business comes from offline channels, not just ecommerce.
- The brand operates in a competitive healthy-snacking market that is drawing more investor attention.
If the company uses the new funding well, it could build a stronger brand and expand beyond its current channels. Its mix of online, quick commerce and offline sales may help it grow more steadily than D2C brands that depend mostly on one channel.
The market is crowded, with brands like The Whole Truth and Yoga Bar already competing for the same health-conscious buyers. Growth could also slow if consumer demand for premium healthy snacks does not keep pace with the category’s optimistic market projections.
