Dr Sangam Kurade started growing mushrooms in Goa in 1994, when the market was still unfamiliar with the product. More than three decades later, his privately held business, Dr Kurade’s, has grown into a Rs 117-crore enterprise, as per Tracxn data.
When Dr Sangam Kurade started cultivating mushrooms in Goa, getting the product to market was almost as difficult as growing it. Consumers were unfamiliar with mushrooms, vendors were reluctant to stock them, and the business had to build demand for a product that was not yet a regular part of Indian household kitchens.
Kurade, however, was working with a different conviction. Having studied food science and technology, he saw mushroom cultivation as an opportunity to develop a year-round agricultural business that did not depend entirely on conventional farming conditions.
He had been studying mushrooms for his father, who was also involved in food technology. The findings eventually persuaded him to pursue commercial cultivation.
What began with five growing rooms in 1994 would eventually develop into a vertically integrated mushroom operation, with cultivation, processing and distribution under the same business.