Uttarakhand’s Engineering Couple Took Loan To Start Growing Exotic Mushrooms; Now Produce Up To 200 Kg Daily, Clocked Rs 15 Cr Revenue

In 2007, nine to ten people told Naveen Patwal that growing mushrooms indoors had a reputation for an almost 90% failure rate. 

Instead of being discouraged, he took it as fuel to grow mushrooms and build a successful business. 

“It was a challenge that I had given myself, and I liked every single minute of it. My journey began in 2007, but we officially started our brand in December 2022,” Naveen Patwal, co-founder of Planet Mushroom, tells Startup Pedia in an exclusive interview.

Founded in 2022 and based in Uttarakhand, Planet Mushroom is a homegrown mushroom farming brand known for growing and selling various kinds of exotic mushrooms, including shiitake, oyster, cordyceps, reishi, lion’s mane, and gucchi. The brand witnesses a daily output of 100 to 200 kilograms of exotic mushrooms.

In FY25, Planet Mushroom clocked an annual revenue of Rs 15 crore.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Hailing from Pauri Garhwal in Uttarakhand, Naveen is a BTech graduate. Right after graduating, he decided to do something of his own instead of taking the route of conventional jobs.

In 2007, he made a list of different businesses and began testing them out. Along the way, his interest in mushroom farming grew.

“When I spoke to some people who were doing mushroom farming, everyone told me about the high failure rate. They would take me to mushroom units that had once started with a lot of zeal but had eventually closed down,” Naveen shares.

However, he took it as a challenge and decided to enter the field of mushroom cultivation.

The first step for Naveen Patwal was to take a term loan from the bank. This was because he wanted to start growing mushrooms on a significant scale. Back in 2007, even button mushrooms were considered exotic, and that is exactly what he had in mind to cultivate.

“After multiple rejections, I was finally able to secure a term loan of Rs 1.35 crore. However, the total project cost was Rs 1.82 crore. The remaining amount was contributed by a promoter,” Naveen shares with Startup Pedia.

While Rs 70.39 lakh went into buying the necessary machinery for the mushroom unit, Rs 90 lakh went into constructing the mushroom unit from scratch. Then, an additional Rs 6.42 lakh went into land and site development, and the remaining was utilized in contingencies.

“I managed to pay off the entire loan in 2013,” the mushroom entrepreneur says.

From 2007 to 2013, Naveen was growing button mushrooms like a conventional mushroom farmer. The daily production of the unit was approximately 800 kilograms to 1000 kilograms, which were sold for an average price of Rs 100 to Rs 120 every day.

During those years, Naveen’s average annual revenue would fluctuate between Rs 2.60 crore and Rs 3.20 crore.

“In the initial years, I was functioning as a hardcore mushroom seller. I would cultivate my mushrooms, load them on a truck, and sell them at the Azadpur mandi in Delhi. That’s about it. But a turning point came in 2013 when I met Poonam Sharma and married her,” Naveen Patwal remarks.

Poonam Sharma is also a BTech graduate who studied  MBA from IIT Kharagpur. She eventually secured a job in the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and gained extensive experience in managing term loans worth Rs 100 crore.

However, in 2014, she resigned from her job and joined Naveen in the mushroom cultivation business.

The engineering couple took a fresh term loan of Rs 12 crore and decided to scale the mushroom farming business even more.

“First, using all the earnings that the mushroom farm had made from 2007 to 2013, Poonam and I set up a mushroom spawn lab. We wanted to become hyper independent in terms of growing our own spawns and thereafter the mushrooms. This lab has become an integral part of our current brand, Planet Mushroom,” Naveen Patwal explains.

Next, from the fresh term loan of Rs 12 crore, the mushroom farming entrepreneurs began constructing a larger mushroom unit, equipped with the necessary machinery and electricity systems. 

This was the expansion phase, and the button mushroom production was finally started in 2016.

From 2016 to around 2019 end, the annual production of their mushroom unit reached approximately 950 tonnes, which is 9,50,000 kilograms.

Their annual revenues, at the time, fluctuated between Rs 8.75 crore and Rs 9.50 crore.

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THE PANDEMIC SHOCK

In 2020, Naveen Patwal and Poonam Sharma witnessed a major shock to their mushroom cultivation business.

During the lockdown phase, transport stopped. All means of taking the mushroom produce to Delhi vanished overnight.

But the mushroom unit kept producing mushrooms.

“The thing is, you can’t just stop the production. It’s a natural process that you mimic in these labs and units. We were in constant states of anxiety, seeing our produce growing without any avenues of selling it in sight,” Naveen reflects.

Ultimately, they had to throw away at least Rs 1.35 crore worth of high-quality, fresh mushrooms in the field.

Reeling from the loss, Poonam and Naveen decided to take a different path and engage in diversifying their mushroom cultivation business.

“This was the time when we decided to venture into exotic mushrooms. They’re fresh, are priced well, and have immense medicinal qualities,” Naveen Patwal tells Startup Pedia.

THE DECISION THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING: REMOVING MIDDLEMEN

The first step for Naveen and Poonam was to procure mother cultures of the exotic mushrooms they wanted to grow in their mushroom farming unit in Uttarakhand.

“I obtained the mother culture of different exotic mushrooms like cordyceps, king oyster, lion’s mane, and reishi. We then started growing them in our lab as well as the unit. Since the lab was already fully functional, we were able to grow more varieties,” Naveen outlines.

The first exotic mushroom harvest was of the shiitake mushroom. It was a total of 50 kilograms.

But when Naveen travelled to Delhi’s INA market and reached a popular shop that bought fresh fruits and vegetables, he was offered a rate that didn’t even cover his production expenses.

“The wholesale price was at least Rs 1200 per kilogram. But he offered me only Rs 300 per kilogram. When I contested, he said that I wouldn’t find any other wholesale buyer for exotic mushrooms like the one I had produced,” Naveen recalls.

“That day, we had two choices: to succumb to the price he offered or build a brand from the ground up and eliminate middlemen. Poonam and I chose the latter,” the mushroom entrepreneur adds.

In December 2022, Naveen and Poonam established Planet Mushroom, a brand that grows and sells organic exotic mushrooms directly to customers all over the country.

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THE GUCCHI MUSHROOM SUCCESS

Along with building Planet Mushroom and diversifying into various types of exotic mushrooms, Naveen Patwal and Poonam Sharma decided to try growing the Gucchi mushroom variety on their farm.

This is a special species of mushrooms that grows in the Himalayan forests. Numerous scientists have been trying to replicate their growing pattern in indoor mushroom labs, but have not seen any significant success.

When Naveen Patwal was growing up, he would see firsthand how important the Gucchi mushrooms were. 

“People would venture deep into the forests, collect these mushrooms, and then sell them to the middlemen. The gucchi mushrooms are rare and have a very high nutritional value as well as antioxidant properties. You’ll see gourmet dishes use them as an ingredient,” Naveen tells Startup Pedia.

Naveen collected various strains of Gucchi mushrooms and immersed himself in global research. But even after referring to various trials that were already conducted, he wasn’t able to crack their growth.

Finally, two years later, in December 2024, he rented a polyhouse spanning 100 square meters.

“I put the Gucchi mushroom spawns. Multiple technicalities went into it, and my research helped. By March 2025, I could see pinheads (Primordia) appearing on the soil. On March 18, the mushrooms were ready to be harvested. The output was a total of 100 kilograms. Once dried, this mushroom retails for Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 per kilogram,” the mushroom entrepreneur says.

In India, this is the first time that Gucchi mushrooms have been cultivated on this scale for commercial use. It’s a step in the direction of not just popularizing the species but also making its access wider.

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AIM TO MAKE EXOTIC MUSHROOMS MAINSTREAM

With the aim of making various kinds of exotic mushrooms easier to access and afford for the general customers, Naveen and Poonam’s Planet Mushroom witnesses a daily production of approximately 100 to 200 kilograms of exotic mushrooms from its unit spread over 10 acres.

Apart from this, their unit produces 3.5 tonnes of button mushrooms every day.

“The production cost is at least 50% of the revenue, but it can be brought down once more scale is achieved. The production cycles also vary from mushroom to mushroom,” Naveen says.

Ranging from Lion’s Mane, Shiitake, Gucchi,  Reishi, and Cordyceps to King Oyster, Oyster, cremini and Portobello, Planet Mushroom has something for everyone. 

In FY25, Planet Mushroom clocked an annual revenue of Rs 15 crore. The brand’s customers include fine-dine restaurants, mandi wholesalers, nutritionists, wellness resorts, hotels, pizzerias, and direct customers that come from B2C channels like Amazon, the brand’s website, and Instagram.

“We advocate for Indians to include various types of mushrooms in their regular diets. They are very rich sources of protein, fibre, complex vitamins, and minerals. Once they start getting grown and sold on scale, their prices will also become more reasonable and affordable for the end customer. At Planet Mushroom, we aim to do just that,” mushroom entrepreneur Naveen Patwal affirms.

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