Few food brands wear their USP on the label as boldly as Kaatil. Every bottle announces not a flavour but a number—4, 7 or 9—signalling the Scoville punch inside. The young D2C startup’s mission is equally direct: put India’s diverse chillies on the world’s condiment shelf.
From kitchen epiphany to bottled fire
Merchant dreamed up Kaatil while working in a Bombay test kitchen run by a UK chef whose family created the Patak’s curry brand. Spotting a shelf full of imported hot sauces yet none starring Indian peppers, he saw an opening. “If craft coffee and beer can go premium, why not our chillies?” he recalls.
The numbered-heat model
Instead of quirky names, Kaatil grades every product on a 1-to-9 heat scale. A medium “Number 4” blends Byadgi and Guntur peppers; “Number 7” leans on Lavangi from Kolhapur; the bestseller “Number 9” is a Bhut Jolokia blast sourced in Assam. The same logic extends to their ketchup and chilli-oil lines, making shopping by spice tolerance almost fool-proof.
Pure ingredients, no shortcuts
Kaatil touts a “real chilli, real veg” rule—no oleoresins, no artificial extracts. Merchant designs the entire cooking protocol, then oversees outsourced manufacturing to hit exact temperature and time specs. Each batch of chillies is lab-tested for hygiene and capsaicin content.
Funding and early traction
The startup raised seed capital in September 2024 from Prajay Advisors and angels linked to the Graviss Group, soon after winning a Great Taste Award 2024 in the UK—reportedly the first Indian chilli-focused sauce to do so. Funds are earmarked for new products, omnichannel marketing and a B2B supply arm for restaurants.
Omnichannel by design
Kaatil sells on its own site, Amazon and quick-commerce apps while courting premium supermarkets with live tasting counters. In Mumbai, curated placements drive ticket sizes; in the US, Amazon listings lead ahead of an offline push planned within the next quarter. Merchant says the mix keeps customer-acquisition costs sane and helps each channel grow “at a measured pace.”
Growth numbers and the road ahead
The company generated ₹1.5 crore in FY 24 and is targeting 2–3 times that in FY 25, buoyed by month-on-month channel growth of 25–30 percent. Longer-term, management eyes ₹50–100 crore in three-to-five years, four to six new SKUs, and presence in 2 000 stores across metros. Quick-commerce tie-ups and ready-to-eat snacks sit on the product roadmap.
Competitive spice test
The hot-sauce aisle is heating up: Veeba’s premium range, Masterchow’s artisanal sauces and a wave of Korean “swicy” imports all jostle for shelf space. Analysts say Kaatil’s odds hinge on maintaining truly differentiated regional flavours - if its heat profiles can’t be copied easily, it could become India’s answer to Tabasco.
Bottom line
With a numbered-heat playbook, pure-chilli ethos and fresh capital, Kaatil is betting that the next global condiment craze will be made in India—and that the world is ready to feel the burn.