Spice startup Diaspora Co. has raised $2.1 million in funding from a mix of values-aligned investors. The five-year-old company will use the capital to hire key personnel, open a new manufacturing facility in India and create a more seamless experience for its farm partners and customers.
Sana Javeri Kadri founded Diaspora Co. to build a more equitable spice trade. The company sources dozens of single-origin spices from regenerative farms across India and Sri Lanka, paying an average of six times above the commodity price.
“Diaspora Co. is one of the first-ever legitimate spice companies led by a queer, brown immigrant,” she said. “The power in this industry has always existed in the west, in the hands of people who look nothing like me, and even more importantly, who look nothing like the people who grow and nurture these crops. With this raise, five years in, I am so proud that I have fought off imposter syndrome every step of the way in order to legitimately raise the bar.”
Investors include Pentland Ventures, Meena Harris of media company Phenomenal, Shelley Armistead of hospitality group Gjelina and Ben Jacobsen of Jacobsen Salt Co. Additionally, Diaspora Co. has appointed a new board of advisers, which includes Ellen Bennett of apron company Hedley & Bennett and Food52 co-founder Merrill Stubbs.
