Diaspora Co.: How Sana Javeri Kadri Built a Global Spice Business by Putting Indian Farmers First

The global spice trade has long been shaped by complex supply chains in which the people growing the ingredients are often far removed from the consumers buying them. For many shoppers, turmeric, cardamom, pepper and chilli are everyday pantry staples. Their regional origins, farming traditions and the livelihoods behind them can remain largely invisible.

Indian-origin entrepreneur Sana Javeri Kadri saw an opportunity to change that.

In 2017, she founded Diaspora Co., a California-based spice business built around a simple but ambitious idea: create a better spice trade by connecting consumers directly with distinctive South Asian spices and the farmers who grow them.

What began with one turmeric variety has developed into a global business with a broad portfolio, a growing retail presence and a distinctive approach to sourcing. Its story is not simply about selling premium spices. It is about rethinking how value is created and shared across the food supply chain.

The founder behind the brand

Born and raised in Mumbai, Sana Javeri Kadri grew up in a culture where spices were part of everyday life, family traditions and food memories. After moving to the United States for college, she studied at Pomona College and developed an interest in agriculture, food systems and the stories behind the products people consume.

Her early professional experiences helped shape the business she would eventually build. She worked on a farm during college and later joined Bi-Rite, a specialty grocery business in San Francisco known for its focus on quality ingredients and the producers behind them.

At Bi-Rite, she saw how carefully the business communicated the origins of its fruits and vegetables. But she felt that the same attention was missing from the spice aisle. Consumers could learn about the farmer who grew a particular peach, but rarely knew where their turmeric or cardamom came from.

That gap became the starting point for Diaspora Co.

The idea that started with a turmeric latte

The turning point came in 2016, when Kadri noticed the growing popularity of turmeric lattes in California cafés. A traditional Indian drink, haldi doodh, was being repackaged as a premium wellness beverage in the American market.

The trend raised a question for her: if global demand for turmeric continued to grow, would the farmers producing it receive a fair share of the value?

She was also concerned about the way traditional ingredients could become fashionable overseas without consumers understanding their origins or the communities responsible for growing them.

Rather than simply criticising the trend, Kadri decided to investigate the supply chain herself. She returned to Mumbai and spent approximately seven months researching the Indian spice industry. According to the company's founding account, this involved more than 40 farm visits, extensive calls and research, and a meeting with the Indian Institute of Spices Research.

Her research revealed an opportunity to build a business around two connected ideas: better-quality spices and a more equitable relationship with farmers.

From one farmer and one spice to a business

The breakthrough came through the Indian Institute of Spices Research, where Kadri was introduced to an heirloom turmeric variety called Pragati.

The institute helped connect her with the Kasaraneni family in Andhra Pradesh, a multigenerational farming family associated with the variety. Its fourth-generation farmer, Prabhu Kasaraneni, became Diaspora Co.'s first farm partner.

In 2017, at just 23 years old, Kadri launched the business with Pragati Turmeric as its first product. She started with approximately $3,000 from her tax refund, alongside a loan from her parents. The first year was financed through pre-orders rather than a large institutional investment.

It was a modest beginning, but the business had a clear point of difference. Instead of purchasing anonymous bulk spices through conventional trading channels, Diaspora Co. would identify individual farms, source specific varieties and tell customers where their spices came from.

The first product was not positioned simply as turmeric. It was Pragati Turmeric, with a named variety, a known farm partner and a story connected to its place of origin.

That distinction became central to the company's identity.

Challenging the traditional spice supply chain

The conventional spice trade often involves multiple intermediaries between farmers and consumers. Products can be aggregated, blended and traded several times before reaching a retailer. This can make it difficult for consumers to identify the farm or region behind a particular ingredient.

Diaspora Co. set out to create a different model.

Its approach centres on single-origin sourcing, direct relationships with small and multigenerational family farms, quality testing and a focus on freshness. Rather than treating spices as interchangeable commodities, the company highlights their individual varieties, growing regions, aroma and flavour.

The company also says it works with farm partners to agree on prices directly, rather than relying entirely on commodity-market benchmarks.

Its current website describes a model in which partner farms receive an average premium of three to five times, while its founding-story page separately states an average of six times above commodity prices. These are company-reported figures, and the exact premium can vary by sourcing period and comparison basis.

The business also works with farmers on infrastructure and production needs. These efforts can include equipment, processing facilities, irrigation and other improvements that help farms increase quality and capacity.

This is important because paying more for a crop is only one part of building a stronger agricultural supply chain. Farmers also need the ability to produce, process and deliver the quality and volume that a growing market demands.

Building a portfolio around regional Indian flavours

After launching with turmeric, Diaspora Co. gradually expanded into other spices and regional varieties.

By 2019, the company had added products including Baraka Cardamom, Aranya Black Pepper and Guntur Sannam Chilli. Its portfolio subsequently grew to include a much wider selection of spices sourced from India and Sri Lanka.

Some of the company's distinguishing products include:

• Pragati Turmeric: The heirloom turmeric variety that launched the business.

• Baraka Cardamom: A single-origin cardamom sourced through a direct farm relationship.

• Aranya Black Pepper: A product that highlights the flavour differences of regional pepper.

• Guntur Sannam Chilli: A chilli variety associated with Andhra Pradesh.

• Regional speciality spices: Products that bring attention to the diversity of Indian and Sri Lankan growing regions.

The strategy is significant because it moves the conversation beyond the generic labels commonly found on supermarket spice shelves. A customer is encouraged to consider not only what spice they are buying, but also which variety, region and farm it comes from.

This gives the company a distinctive position in the premium food market: it sells flavour, provenance and cultural context together.

Paying farmers more and investing in their future

Farmer compensation is one of the most important parts of Diaspora Co.'s business model.

Rather than treating farmers as anonymous suppliers, the company presents them as long-term partners whose knowledge, land and agricultural practices are essential to the product.

In a July 2025 interview with Fortune, Kadri said that the company worked with approximately 140 farmers, and that 97% had not previously worked with a distributor before partnering with Diaspora Co. The publication also reported that Kadri said its farm partners earned an average of $26,000 in 2023. This was her reported figure, not an independently audited income study.

The company has also introduced initiatives intended to support farmers beyond the purchase price.

These include:

• Farm infrastructure support: Helping partner farms access equipment and facilities that can improve production and processing.

• Advance payments and financing: Providing financial support that can help farmers prepare for harvest and invest in their operations.

• Farm Worker Fund: Supporting projects focused on health, education and nutrition for workers on partner farms.

• Regenerative agriculture: Working with farms that use practices intended to support soil health and long-term land stewardship.

The model recognises a basic commercial reality: a business that depends on high-quality agricultural products cannot build long-term reliability if the farms supplying those products are financially vulnerable.

A business that grew without chasing rapid venture capital

Diaspora Co. did not begin with a large investment round or a conventional start-up growth strategy.

Kadri bootstrapped the business for its first five years, according to Fortune. The company eventually needed additional capital to support its supply chain and provide advances and equipment financing to farmers.

In 2022, Forbes reported that Diaspora Co. raised $2.1 million in a combination of equity and debt financing. The round was led by Pentland Ventures and included capital intended to expand the supply chain, support farmer infrastructure and build the team.

Fortune later reported that the company raised a $1 million pre-seed round and a $1.5 million seed round in 2024, backed by a group of angel investors. These reported figures describe separate fundraising stages and should not be confused with the earlier $2.1 million financing announcement.

In March 2025, the ICA Fund announced that it had invested in Diaspora Co. through its ICA Growth Fund. The fund described the investment as part of the company's next phase of growth and highlighted its focus on farmer partnerships and impact-led business development.

The investment approach reflects Kadri's stated preference for capital partners who understand the company's long-term priorities. She has spoken about wanting to retain control over business decisions rather than build a company around the pressure of a predetermined exit.

For Diaspora Co., growth is not measured only by how quickly the brand can expand. It is also measured by whether its supply chain can grow without compromising product quality or farmer relationships.

From direct-to-consumer brand to a wider retail business

The company's early growth came through direct sales and pre-orders, allowing it to build a customer base around the story and quality of its spices.

As demand increased, the business expanded its retail presence and developed relationships with larger buyers. Fortune reported in July 2025 that its retail customers included Amazon and that the business was generating annual revenue in the mid-millions, according to Kadri. The publication also reported that she was targeting profitability by the end of 2025; that target should not be treated as a confirmed financial result without a subsequent company disclosure.

The company has also been developing its export and supply-chain operations. According to ICA Fund, Diaspora Trading was established as a subsidiary export business to streamline operations and help spices reach customers as quickly as two weeks after harvest.

This operational structure matters because freshness is a central part of the brand promise. A premium spice business must manage not only sourcing and marketing, but also the time between harvest, processing, export and delivery.

Expanding beyond individual spices

As the company matured, Kadri recognised that selling premium whole spices alone could limit its appeal to everyday shoppers.

A customer who cooks occasionally may not use a full tin of a single spice quickly. To make the products more accessible, Diaspora Co. expanded into spice blends and masalas, helping customers use its ingredients in more convenient ways.

The company has also explored new pantry products and collaborations. ICA Fund reported plans to expand B2B sales to restaurants and consumer packaged-goods businesses, alongside broader product development.

This is an important step in the company's evolution. Diaspora Co. is moving from being a specialist spice retailer towards becoming a broader food and culinary brand, while attempting to preserve the sourcing principles that made it distinctive.

Telling the stories behind the spices

One of Diaspora Co.'s strongest differentiators is its emphasis on storytelling.

The brand does not rely only on packaging or product descriptions. It uses its website, recipes, educational content and collaborations to explain regional food traditions and the people behind its ingredients.

That approach became even more visible in 2026 with the publication of The Diaspora Spice Co. Cookbook: Seasonal Home Cooking from South Asia's Best Spice Farms, co-created by Kadri and recipe developer Asha Loupy.

The cookbook was featured by Vogue in March 2026. It includes 85 family recipes and highlights the home cooking traditions of spice-growing communities across South Asia. The project aims to give greater visibility to the families and culinary knowledge behind the ingredients.

For Kadri, this is about more than publishing recipes. It is also a way to broaden how South Asian food is represented internationally.

Instead of reducing the region's cuisine to a handful of familiar restaurant dishes, the cookbook explores the diversity of everyday home cooking, seasonal ingredients and local food traditions.

It extends the company's original idea: the story of a spice should include the people and culture that brought it to the table.

Where Diaspora Co. stands today

Diaspora Co. has grown considerably from its first turmeric launch in 2017.

The company's current About page describes a sourcing network of 30 single-origin spices from 150 farms across India and Sri Lanka. In a March 2026 interview with Vogue, Kadri described the business as having approximately 40 spices and 140 farmers, with a team of around 30 people. These are different published snapshots, so the figures should be understood as reported at different points rather than treated as one exact, audited count.

The company's progress demonstrates how a relatively small consumer brand can build a differentiated position by focusing on a part of the supply chain that larger commodity businesses may overlook: the identity, quality and livelihood behind the ingredient.

Its model is not without challenges. Direct sourcing requires time, farm visits, testing, logistics and long-term relationship management. Agricultural supply is also subject to seasonal variation, weather and the limits of production. Scaling the business while maintaining its standards will remain a central challenge.

But those complexities are also part of what makes the business distinctive.

What entrepreneurs can learn from Sana Javeri Kadri

Diaspora Co.'s journey offers several lessons for founders building businesses around traditional products and regional expertise.

1. Look for opportunity in familiar products.

Kadri did not invent turmeric or create a new food category. She identified a gap in how an existing product was sourced, presented and valued.

2. Make the supply chain part of the brand.

The company's farm relationships are not hidden behind the product. They are central to its identity and customer proposition.

3. Compete on quality, not just price.

Single-origin sourcing, variety and freshness give Diaspora Co. a reason to command a premium beyond attractive packaging or marketing.

4. Build growth around the people who make the product possible.

The company's investment in farm infrastructure and worker support reflects the importance of long-term supplier relationships.

5. Use cultural heritage as a source of innovation.

Diaspora Co. demonstrates that traditional ingredients and regional knowledge can form the foundation of a contemporary global business without losing their origins.

Conclusion: A new way to value India's spices

Sana Javeri Kadri's journey shows how a business can be built by looking closely at something the market has taken for granted.

What began as a question about turmeric lattes became an effort to reconnect consumers with the farmers, varieties and regional traditions behind South Asian spices.

Diaspora Co. has grown from one turmeric product into an international food brand with a wider portfolio, retail distribution, impact-focused investment and a cookbook celebrating the culinary knowledge of its farming communities.

Its larger significance lies in the business model it is trying to prove: that quality, cultural identity and fairer relationships with producers can work together as commercial strengths.

For Indian entrepreneurs and the wider diaspora, the story is a reminder that global opportunities do not always require inventing something new. Sometimes, they come from recognising the value of what already exists—and building a better business around it.