Karmic Seed creates sustainable products made from agricultural waste to reduce single-use plastic and restore the environment. The company works with local rural villagers in southern India to develop 100% biodegradable, organic, and chemical-free kitchenware products, such as areca palm leaf tableware, wheat drinking straws, and coconut bowls.
Karmic Seed was founded in December 2018 by Neena Gupta and Arpan Soni who met in India. The two had a vision of creating products that went full circle — made from nature and ultimately go right back into the earth — and identified a market need in the US.
While Neena and Arpan researched a myriad of platforms where they could list and sell their products, they decided on Alibaba.com because of its strong community of US buyers — their key target. Neena and Arpan also found the Alibaba.com platform user friendly and simple to navigate.
In less than one year on the platform, Karmic Seed is profitable. The company credits its success to successfully identifying a market need and the right channel to sell to businesses who care about sustainability. Currently, Karmic Seed is the only US seller of their type of sustainable products on Alibaba.com — a key differentiator. The company sees roughly 65% of its overall sales stem from the platform.
When talking about their experience, Neena said: “As a newly launched startup, Alibaba.com has given us immense opportunity to flourish in the US market as well as abroad. Our business has seen tremendous growth since launching, thanks to Alibaba.com. We have a lot of gratitude for Alibaba.com and would 100% recommend it to other businesses looking for a way to reach the US market.”