Brands
Gramiyaa packs cold-pressed oils in cartons to preserve freshness
BENGALURU: India’s cooking oil aisle is getting a makeover. Gramiyaa, a Bengaluru-based producer of wood cold-pressed oils, has launched what it claims is the country’s first gable-top carton packaging for cooking oils—a format designed to keep oils fresher for longer.
The redesigned packaging, unveiled under the brand’s Fresh Drip campaign, swaps conventional plastic and glass bottles for fully opaque, nitrogen-flushed cartons. The company says this locks in freshness from seed to seal, preserving aroma and nutrition that typically degrade in traditional packaging.
“Packaging is only part of the story,” said Gramiyaa founder Sibi Manivannan. “We go the extra mile to ensure our oils stay fresh naturally.” The brand employs natural sedimentation and cotton fabric filtration to remove seed residue that can turn rancid and accelerate spoilage.
Each batch undergoes a three-step process: natural seed sedimentation allows particles to settle slowly; cotton fabric filtration removes residual sediments; and nitrogen flush sealing removes oxygen before sealing to prevent oxidation and nutrient loss. The carton’s multi-layer opaque design blocks light and air, whilst a double-seal provides an airtight barrier that locks in aroma even after opening.
All Gramiyaa oils are wood cold-pressed in-house at the company’s facility in Trichy, Tamil Nadu. Each carton features a QR code revealing exactly when and where the oil was pressed. The brand controls the entire supply chain—sourcing directly from farmers, manufacturing, lab-testing and packaging on-site.
“The cooking oil industry hasn’t changed its packaging in nearly a century,” added Manivannan. “We asked ourselves—if freshness is what matters most, why not design for it?”
The brand offers a range of wood cold-pressed oils, including groundnut, coconut, sesame and mustard oil, catering to diverse culinary traditions whilst preserving natural flavour and aroma.
As health-conscious Indians increasingly reject heavily processed oils, Gramiyaa is betting that what works for milk and juice can work for the kitchen staple that’s been sold in bottles since before independence. The real test will be whether consumers are willing to pour their cooking oil from a carton.
Brands
UK’s OnlyFans seeks US investor at $3bn valuation after owner’s death
The adult video platform is seeking stability after the death of its billionaire owner
LONDON: OnlyFans is looking for a new partner. The London-based adult video platform is in advanced talks to sell a minority stake of less than 20 per cent to Architect Capital, a San Francisco-based investment firm, in a deal that would value the business at more than $3bn (£2.2bn).
The move is driven by an urgent need for stability. Leonid Radvinsky, the Ukrainian-American billionaire who owned OnlyFans, died of cancer last month at the age of 43, leaving the future of one of Britain’s most profitable privately held businesses suddenly uncertain.
The choice of Architect Capital is not arbitrary. The firm has deep expertise in financial services, which aligns neatly with OnlyFans’ ambitions to offer banking products to its creators, many of whom have long struggled to access basic financial services because of the nature of their work.
The numbers behind OnlyFans are, by any measure, staggering. The platform posted revenues of $1.4bn in the year to 30th November 2024, with a pre-tax profit of $684m, up four per cent on the prior year. Payments to creators totalled $7.2bn over the same period, a rise of nearly ten per cent. Radvinsky personally collected $701m in dividends from the business in 2024 alone, on top of more than $1bn in such payments he had already received. The platform, run through its parent company Felix International, hosts 4.6m creator accounts, with performers keeping 80 per cent of subscription proceeds and the platform pocketing the remaining 20 per cent. It has 377m fan accounts in total.
The current minority stake talks represent a notable scaling back of ambitions. In January, OnlyFans was reported to be in discussions with Architect about selling a majority stake of 60 per cent. Before that, the company had explored a sale to a consortium led by Forest Road Company, a Los Angeles-based investment firm. Neither deal materialised.
OnlyFans has built an enormously lucrative business on content that mainstream finance has long refused to touch. Now, with its owner gone and a $3bn valuation on the table, it is looking for the kind of respectable institutional backing that might finally persuade the banks to take its calls.
