A Rhodes Scholar and a Cambridge economist walked away from elite careers to convince Indian parents that millets could be cool

Here was the paradox that started a company. India grows some of the most nutritious grains on earth, jowar, bajra, ragi, the millets that fed families for centuries, and Indian grandmothers know exactly how to cook them. Yet somewhere along the way, urban India decided that imported breakfast cereals and sugar-loaded snacks were the smarter choice for its children. Meghana Narayan and Shauravi Malik looked at that gap and saw a brand waiting to be built. In 2016 they founded Slurrp Farm, under their company Wholsum Foods, to put millets back on the table, except this time as something kids would actually reach for.

Two formidable résumés, one kitchen-table idea

You would be hard-pressed to design a more over-qualified founding team for a children's snack. Meghana Narayan swam competitively for India before she ever sat an exam that mattered, then became a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, where she studied computation, and went on to earn an MBA from Harvard Business School. Shauravi Malik took the economist's road, reading Economics at St. Stephen's College in Delhi, then a master's in Economics at Cambridge. Between them they had analytics, public-health instinct, and a deep command of money and markets. What they pointedly did not have was a reason to start a food company, except that the problem wouldn't leave them alone.

The careers they left behind

Before Slurrp Farm, Narayan worked at McKinsey & Company, rising to a senior role and spending much of her time on public-health work, including leading a government programme-management unit tied to national skills and health initiatives. It gave her a systems-level view of how nutrition actually plays out across India. Malik, meanwhile, built a career in finance: roughly six years at J.P. Morgan in London, working in M&A advisory and leveraged finance across consumer, healthcare and retail, followed by a stint as an investment manager at Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group. When the two finally turned toward the kids'-food idea, the fit was almost suspiciously good, Narayan's brand-and-impact lens meeting Malik's instinct for deals, numbers, and how to fund a build.

Why millets, and why then

Around 2015 and 2016, a few currents converged. Urban Indian parents were getting serious about health. The world was rediscovering "ancient grains." And yet no one had made millets feel premium, tasty, or remotely aspirational for a child. Millets carried an image problem, unfairly dismissed as "poor people's food", even though they're nutrient-dense, high in fibre and minerals, and naturally gluten-free. Narayan and Malik decided to flip the story. Slurrp Farm launched in 2016 with a clear promise: millet-based food that's genuinely good for kids, tasty enough that they ask for seconds, and proudly rooted in Indian grains. Every product was built against real nutritional targets and tested with the toughest critics there are, actual parents and actual children.

The walls they hit

Perception was the first. Convincing a mother that millets were a step up, not a step down, took real brand-building, millets reframed as "supergrains," backed by science and heritage. The supply chain was the second: sourcing quality millet is harder than sourcing wheat or rice, food-safety standards for children's products are unforgiving, and manufacturing capacity for specialised millet foods was thin. And the third was distribution, in a market where established giants held the shelf space and online customer-acquisition costs kept climbing. Each one had to be solved the slow way.

Choosing the venture road

Unlike many founders who guard their independence to the last, Narayan and Malik leaned into venture capital, and used their finance fluency to do it well. Wholsum Foods has raised roughly US$18 million across multiple rounds from investors including Fireside Ventures, the Investment Corporation of Dubai, and Raed Ventures, with actor Anushka Sharma joining as an investor and ambassador. A round of about US$7.2 million closed in January 2024, after which the company was valued at around ₹510 crore. The capital did what capital is supposed to do here: fund the supply chain, the brand, and the long climb of changing minds.

The growth has been steep off a small base, operating revenue on the order of ₹40 crore in FY23, climbing to around ₹73 crore in FY24, and the brand has stretched beyond the lunchbox into adjacent nutrition, recognising that what mothers feed their children and what they feed themselves are two halves of the same conversation.

What's in the box

From its first snacks and cereals, Slurrp Farm has grown into millet-based noodles, pancake and dosa mixes, and a spread of everyday foods built on jowar, bajra and ragi. The constant is the trick at the heart of the company: serious nutritional rigour wrapped in taste and kid-friendly branding, so that the healthy choice never feels like the dutiful one.

What their story tells other founders

The partnership is a near-perfect argument for complementary co-founders, Narayan's analytics, public-health depth and brand instinct alongside Malik's economics and finance firepower, each covering the other's blind spot. It's also a reminder that consumer education, so often treated as a cost, can be the very heart of brand-building when it's done with conviction; Slurrp Farm's real job was to change how India feels about millets, and selling them followed. And it underlines a quieter truth about food businesses: the supply chain and the science are the moat. Two of the most credentialed women in Indian business could have done almost anything, and they chose to make the unglamorous question of what a child eats for breakfast into a brand worth building.

Frequently asked questions about Meghana Narayan, Shauravi Malik, and Slurrp Farm

Who are Meghana Narayan and Shauravi Malik?

They co-founded Slurrp Farm (Wholsum Foods) in 2016. Meghana Narayan is a former national-level swimmer, a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and a Harvard MBA who worked at McKinsey & Company. Shauravi Malik read Economics at St. Stephen's College and Cambridge and built a finance career at J.P. Morgan and Virgin Group before co-founding the company.

Where is Slurrp Farm based?

Its parent company, Wholsum Foods, is headquartered in Gurugram, in the Delhi NCR region.

Is Slurrp Farm funded?

Yes. Wholsum Foods is venture-backed, having raised roughly US$18 million across multiple rounds from investors including Fireside Ventures, the Investment Corporation of Dubai, and Raed Ventures. A round of about US$7.2 million closed in January 2024.

Why does Slurrp Farm focus on millets?

Millets such as jowar, bajra and ragi are nutrient-dense, high in fibre and minerals, and naturally gluten-free, but had been stigmatised in urban India. Slurrp Farm set out to reposition them as premium, tasty and aspirational foods for children, reconnecting families to traditional Indian grains.