An 88-Year-Old Gujarati Farsan Brand Just Raised Its First Big Check

In Vadodara, Jagdish Farshan has been selling Gujarati snacks since 1938: soft bhakarwadi spirals, moist lilo chevdo, namkeen piles for chai, and festival boxes next to the mithai. The house just raised ₹43.5 crore in its first institutional round, led by Sharrp Ventures, the investment office of Marico founder Harsh Mariwala, with angel investors joining. The bet is that those regional snacks can travel as a national packaged brand without losing the taste that made the shop matter.

Farsan is the Gujarati savory-snack lane, eaten with tea, beside a thali, or packed for guests. Bhakarwadi is the fried spiral stuffed with a sweet-spicy coconut-and-spice mix. Lilo chevdo is a softer potato-and-lentil mix the company treats as a signature. Those are the products the new money has to keep tasting like Vadodara in a smaller Blinkit bag and a new city store.

Where the money goes

The Series A total is ₹43.5 crore. Sharrp principal Divya Gupta has separately put the firm’s lead check at ₹25 crore. The company says the capital will fund manufacturing and supply chain, more retail and institutional distribution, technology and digital commerce, and expansion beyond Gujarat. Fourth-generation managing director Aakash Kandoi has described the raise as building the brand for the next century without breaking the trust that kept it local for decades.

Public counts put roughly 27 outlets in central Gujarat and two shops in North America, with plans to add 30 to 40 stores over two years and push into Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and other markets. Brand pages list Edison, New Jersey, and Brampton, Ontario among international addresses, and name Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, BigBasket, and a D2C site. Store counts and app cities move. Check the current locator before you plan a trip.

Why the 10-minute cart matters

Geography is only half the story. Kandoi has said snack craving favors short delivery windows over slow marketplace shipping, so the brand is resizing for quick-commerce shelves: 100-gram trial packs beside the usual 250- and 500-gram bags, with the 250-gram packs priced around ₹110 to ₹140. Digital sales and exports are still a smaller slice; most revenue still comes from physical retail. A new Vadodara factory of about 2.5 to 3 lakh square feet is expected around mid-2027 to free up capacity.

That is the hard part for any regional snack brand leaving home. Freshness has to survive packaging and apps. Price has to still feel like an impulse buy. Gupta has said Gujarati snacks and farsan still have room to grow as an organised category, not only as a Gujarat grocery habit. For shoppers, the test is simpler: does the bag from the app still taste like the Vadodara counter.

Further reading

• Gujarati Thali Logic: Dal, Bhaat, Rotli, Shaak
• Brooklyn Delhi Put Achaar on the American Condiment Shelf
• Gymkhana Fine Foods: Michelin Sauces in the Pantry Aisle
• India’s Sweets Giant Is Choosing Adelaide Before Sydney
• Cookd Sells Separate Kits for Ambur and Dindigul Biryani
• Why “Indian Food” Is the Wrong Menu Category