Conducted by Raamesh, Editor

Raamesh: Could you start by telling us a little about yourself, your journey, and the founding of Anabio?

Mithun Shah: I’m a serial entrepreneur who’s failed many times. But the core of my journey is innovation and sustainability. This is what excites me—everything to do with innovation and excitement. So, we started Anabio in 2017 out of a garage in the U.S. I used to head global R&D for medical fabrics for an American-European company. I was based in the U.S. for about 16-17 years. I studied there, worked there, and was pretty much settled there.

We have tried to do multiple ventures in the U.S. for India. That was also another central theme of what we were doing. Then we had an idea for sustainable solar energy for agriculture, which failed because we were trying to execute it in India based out of the U.S. So our learning was that you cannot do it from the very get-go from the very early stages; you have to be where your customer is. When that didn’t work, we took some time off to determine what was next.

We stumbled upon the issue of menstrual health and hygiene and how menstruation is looked down upon in India. It’s a taboo, it’s a social stigma, and only 40% of the women in India use sanitary pads even in today’s age. But the exciting story was the rate at which more women are using, which was quite exciting, with 20% growth in the market. So we were like, hey, low penetration, high growth, social impact, great area. Let’s figure this market out. So that’s how it all started. Then, we brainstormed about what to do.

It’s straightforward to start a factory, start making pads, and start marketing them like everybody else. That doesn’t excite us, right? It has to be innovative, and it has to be sustainable. So that’s where we come in. So, sitting at the dinner table on a Sunday, my wife and I were discussing, and we stumbled upon the idea of, you know, what if we make a flushable pad? Oh, that’s great. However, it still needs to be made clear who came up with the idea. I claim it was me. My wife claims it was her. So we still don’t agree on that. But as long as it’s in the family, we’re all right. So that’s how it all started. And then, in 2018, we ran some pilots in the U.S., some consumer trials in India, and then we moved to India in 2018. And that’s how we set it up. And we’ve invested about seven plus years in developing this one product. So we’ve spent crores of rupees in R&D and our time to create this product. And we hope to go to market this year.

Raamesh: Could you tell us about your vision for Anabio and how it impacts the market or the industry?

Mithun Shah: We are betting the company on sustainability. And one of the things that we want to do is make everybody talk about sustainability. We have a slightly different view of just scaling sustainability. It’s not doing sustainability; it’s scaling it. It has to be at scale. You can only be pleasing to the planet by being good to your consumers. Most of the sustainability you do today is a tax you impose on the consumer. And that tax prevents you from scaling sustainability. Why should someone have to pay 10 rupees extra to buy a bag at checkout when you spend 2,000 rupees to buy X, Y, and Z. Why should someone have to pay 25 rupees extra to get the packaging of the food at the restaurant? So, we look at sustainability for something other than the consumer. Sustainability is for Anabio as a company. That’s our central DNA. That’s to us. But how do we scale it? We use innovation to scale. So what we do is we solve a problem that the customer is truly facing.

In our case, we said, what is the one problem that needs to be discussed? I mean, disposeability is a big problem regarding sanitary pads. Women are shy about using them because where do they dispose of them? Only some restrooms have a trash can. And if there’s a trash can, somebody must pick it up. And that somebody’s gotta drop it somewhere else. And somebody has to put it in the truck. And that’s got to go to a landfill. It has to be segregated at some point. In major cities, it happens. In Tier Two and Tier Three cities, it probably doesn’t. In rural areas, it doesn’t. And that’s a problem for everybody. And where technology has evolved so much, where smartphones are, where satellites are, and where electric cars are, this is a straightforward problem that we have yet to be able to solve. And this market has been fine for about 40 years since the pads were in the market 40-50 years, whatever the time frame is. That’s where we took that problem on.

Raamesh: Can you give me an overview of the technology that powers and values products or services and how it differentiates from existing solutions in the market?

Mithun Shah: So, do we have solutions for the problem you are discussing? I haven’t seen it- No. So that’s the best part. So, when you need help developing a technology for seven years, that is a big challenge. But then, this is the most straightforward question we can answer: is there anybody else? No. Do we have I.P.? Yes. Would someone be able to copy it? No. I mean, not directly without infringing on our I.P., right? So that’s where we come in. And that’s where our strengths lie.

Raamesh: How does Anabio stand out from its competitors in this competitive landscape?

Mithun Shah: We don’t have any competitors right now. But I think we will have to develop the market further to reach out to the right people. The market is already there. We just have to connect with them and tell them.

Raamesh: What plan and strategy do you have to reach the masses?

Mithun Shah: So, do we have competition in the market for flushable pads? No. But we are selling to women who are using pads, so we are competing with Whisper, Stray Freeze, and all of the big companies in the world. There is no question about it, right? Now, there may be segmentation in the market. Some women may value convenience, and some may not. So, the question is, how do we get to the women who value convenience?

So where we believe this merit is this model that the automobile industry figured out: the Toyota and the Lexus model, right? For example, Toyota is the car for the masses, and then the Lexus is the high-end niche model that adds much more value. We are looking at both models to scale sustainability and maintain profitability. So, we would keep it at a much lower price and higher volume business, and we would distribute through the government channels and any channel that we have available.

The government has supported us quite a bit. The state and the central government have supported us for the last seven years. They have funded us because of the problem we solve. And we’ve also been empowered by the government of Karnataka to sell to them. One of the nine startups in the entire state of Karnataka that can sell to the government without following the typical bureaucracy because of the problem we solve. So that is one model we will go after saying, okay, how can we do sales to get this? Second, we do a direct-to-consumer approach, a D2C brand, where we’ll target our customers directly, providing them convenience, customization, and all of that, and also sell on the platforms to start with. And then we’ll slowly, as we scale, go into retail distribution.

We want to be a large-scale consumer brand. That’s our goal. It’s a big play, a long-term view, and we hope to make it. Specifically, one of the motivating things for us was a prime minister standing up at the Red Fort and talking about women and girls, clean toilets, and health and hygiene. There is no better time to go to the market than now. And this is a technology developed for India. It is a reverse brain drain. I mean, for everything that the government wants us to get to the next trillion-dollar economy, Anabio is pitching in all those areas. So, we are at the right time and place to make it happen.

Raamesh: Is the venture bootstrapped, or have you raised any funds?

Mithun Shah: We are primarily bootstrapped. The BIRAC and the government of Karnataka have also financially supported us. But we have saved our life savings to make this happen.

Raamesh: Is there any unique branding strategy that Anabio will follow?

Mithun Shah: So Anabio is the company’s working name. It’s not the commercial name because we are a biotech company at the end of the day. But yes, we will be rebranding as a new one with a commercial name and, you know, all of that. So, there will be a new branding strategy. It will be different and unique from what everybody else does. If we do what everybody does, how would we differentiate ourselves? So yes, the plans are there too. And we prefer doing things differently in our innovation and marketing.

Raamesh: When can we expect the brand to be launched?

Mithun Shah: We haven’t set a date, but it will most likely be Q4. We hope to live up to our expectations.

This concludes our insightful interview with Mithun Shah, the visionary founder of Anabio, as he unveils his groundbreaking journey towards redefining menstrual health with innovation and sustainability.