VMPL
New Delhi [India], August 18: While India’s startup darlings were chasing unicorn status in food delivery and fintech, two management consultants decided to bet their future on something far leafier. When Sambhav Jain quit his successful career at KPMG and Akanksha Gupta walked away from her strategic consulting role at Deloitte in 2021, industry observers might have questioned their judgment. After all, who leaves the security of Big Four consulting to cultivate gardens?
Yet their seemingly unconventional pivot represents a larger shift in Indian entrepreneurship where seasoned professionals are applying business expertise to solve everyday problems, uncovering billion-dollar opportunities in the process.
Sambhav, a Chartered Accountant with an MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad, and Akanksha, armed with her ISB credentials, had built impressive corporate careers. But beneath their success stories lay a shared passion that would eventually change their carefully planned trajectories.
For Sambhav, gardening was not a hobby but a deep inclination towards nature, something he had always embraced. His profound connection to the planet had led him to conduct over 150 gardening workshops for corporate giants like Google, DE Shaw, and Coursera. Meanwhile, Akanksha’s green awakening came during the pandemic, when cities went into lockdown and people found solace in their homes. She discovered the therapeutic power of nurturing plants, developing a keen interest in creating green sanctuaries within the confines of homes and shared spaces.
With lockdowns in place and no way to visit physical nurseries, there was no avenue for plant parents to get their leafy companions anymore. So, what they saw wasn’t just a $3 billion market-they saw balconies devoid of greenery, children who believed gardening was rocket science, and a nation yearning for a connection with nature. Being passionate gardeners themselves, they witnessed the frustration of fellow plant enthusiasts who struggled with poor plant quality, delayed deliveries, and exorbitant shipping costs from online retailers.
Plants were being shipped across vast distances, arriving wilted and stressed after days in transit boxes filled with plastic packaging. Sambhav’s market analysis uncovered that the majority of plastic waste in e-commerce came from packaging alone, with nearly half of all plastic being used just once before being discarded.
Their breakthrough insight came from recognizing that plants, unlike other e-commerce products, are living entities that require intense care and proper handling. This realization birthed their philosophy of “Green at the speed of light”-growing fresh plants, tending to them with effort and care, and delivering them within 24 hours.
The Indian gardening market they entered was vast and rapidly expanding, valued at approximately $3 billion with a projected 15 percent CAGR growth rate. This represented a massive opportunity in a sector that had been largely overlooked by many entrepreneurs, who dismissed gardening as difficult to scale. However, the husband-wife team saw beyond these challenges, recognizing that India’s growing population was increasingly seeking ways to reconnect with nature.
At the heart of Urvann’s exponential growth across cities lies a budding work culture built on three foundational pillars: inclusivity, sustainability, and an open-door policy. The company has nurtured an environment where every team member feels empowered to contribute ideas and strategies. This inclusive culture has created a flood of creative solutions that have propelled Urvann from a two-person startup to a 200+ member organization spanning 9 cities and 350+ pin codes.
Sustainability is not merely a business strategy at Urvann but a core value that permeates every decision. Operating under their motto “Zero wastage, zero compromise”, the company’s pledge to plastic-free packaging has saved 350,000 kilograms of plastic waste. At the same time, their 200+ electric vehicle fleet has conserved 50,000 liters of fuel. This environmental consciousness extends to their workplace culture, where employees are encouraged to champion environmentally responsible practices.
Who would have predicted that two MBA graduates with stellar consulting careers would find their fortune in soil and seeds? Today, Urvann has become a household name among India’s plant parents, proving that the most unconventional ideas often yield extraordinary results.
From 2 cities to soon covering the nation, Urvann’s dream is to unite plant lovers with the best variety of leafy greens at competitive prices. In boardrooms across the country, executives still debate market penetration strategies and customer acquisition costs. But in a small Delhi apartment where it all began, two former consultants proved that sometimes the most revolutionary business models start with the most fundamental human need-the desire to nurture life.
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