From frozen shots to fast funding: Zenma Coffee’s breakthrough | Fusion - WeRIndia

India’s startup ecosystem often celebrates sudden success, yet most journeys grow through patience, testing, and quiet persistence.

Zenma Coffee is one such story. It was built by siblings Sheena and Karan Khurana after years of observing how Indians consume coffee at home.

Sheena, an Economics graduate from Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, worked in real estate private equity.

Meanwhile, frequent café visits revealed a clear gap. Café coffee tasted rich and layered. Home coffee, however, relied mostly on instant powders.

Therefore, she quit her job and trained as a barista in Rome. Soon after, she and Karan, then a St Stephen’s student, opened a small kiosk in Gurugram called 16 Grams.

That kiosk became their classroom. It taught them how customers ordered, tasted, and returned.

However, the pandemic shut the kiosk in 2020. The siblings shifted online, selling beans and ground coffee. Yet a larger problem remained.

People wanted café-style milk drinks at home. But most households lacked espresso machines.

As a result, the siblings focused on one challenge. How could they deliver real espresso without a machine?

Espresso is fragile. Its crema collapses quickly. Flavours fade within minutes. Still, they experimented for months.

They tested grind sizes, extraction times, and cooling methods. Eventually, rapid flash-freezing changed everything.

By freezing espresso shots immediately, Zenma preserved flavour, aroma, and crema. The frozen shots stayed stable for months. Importantly, they needed only coffee and water.

Zenma officially launched in November 2023. Soon, its frozen espresso shots appeared on Blinkit and Zepto.

A cup costs around ₹70. This offered a middle ground. Consumers got café taste without expensive machines or maintenance.

Nevertheless, challenges followed. Storage, logistics, and consumer habits worried investors. On Shark Tank India Season 4, the founders impressed sharks with taste. However, they walked away without a deal.

Still, momentum continued. Early investor 100X.VC-backed Zenma in 2024. Production scaled. Sales grew across major cities.

In early 2025, Zenma pitched at IIT Bombay’s The Ten Minute Million. Within minutes, investor bids crossed ₹3 crore. The startup secured ₹35 lakh on the spot.

Image Credit: Zenmacoffee Website Screenshot

Image Reference: https://zenmacoffee.com/