Mushrooms are rapidly transitioning from simple culinary ingredients to highly sought-after 'functional foods' prized for their medicinal and health-boosting properties. From stamina-enhancing Cordyceps and cholesterol-lowering Shiitake to brain-boosting Lion's Mane and immunity-modulating Reishi, the demand for exotic, medicinal mushrooms is skyrocketing globally. In Kerala, this lucrative global trend is being actively capitalised on by three young entrepreneurs who have established a state-of-the-art agricultural facility to tap into the premium mushroom market.

From the volleyball court to agritech innovation
GP Akhil, Mohammed Sahad, and K Ansil first met as volleyball players while pursuing their undergraduate degrees at CMS College in Kottayam. Keen to generate an independent income stream while continuing their higher education, they decided to explore agricultural entrepreneurship. Akhil already had basic hands-on experience cultivating oyster mushrooms during his high school days. Realising the limited profit margins of traditional local varieties, the trio looked beyond state borders, seeking guidance from the ICAR Directorate of Mushroom Research in Solan, Himachal Pradesh, as well as several large-scale medicinal mushroom producers across India. This extensive research convinced them to expand their horizons to highly valuable functional mushrooms and adopt cutting-edge automation techniques.

Backed by bank loans and private investors who saw potential in their modern business model, the young team set up a massive ₹1.25 crore high-tech mushroom cultivation unit spanning 8,000 square feet in Erumappetty, Thrissur. The state-of-the-art facility features 11 climate-controlled production rooms designed to grow 11 distinct mushroom varieties. Rather than relying on traditional labour-intensive methods, they chose to fully automate temperature, humidity, and airflow. The cultivation rooms are heavily insulated with puff panels and lined with aluminium bubble sheets to maintain optimal microclimates without requiring manual watering of the beds.

The product portfolio: from daily culinary staples to high-value exports
To balance cash flows and market reach, the start-up categorises its production into three segments. The bulk of their daily output consists of popular culinary oyster mushrooms, including Pearl, Grey, Pink, Blue, and Golden varieties, alongside premium culinary species like Milky and Button mushrooms. These culinary varieties yield a combined average of 100 kilograms daily, which are sold wholesale and retail across multiple districts in Kerala. However, the real gems of their enterprise are the medicinal and functional varieties: Cordyceps, Shiitake, Lion's Mane, Reishi, and King Oyster. Due to their premium pricing and delicate growth requirements, these are cultivated strictly against advance orders, with several batches reaching international markets through export channels.

Among their offerings, Cordyceps militaris commands the highest price, reaching up to ₹4 lakh per kilogram. Cultivated in sterile glass jars on a nutrient-rich brown rice medium using advanced liquid spawn technology, this premium mushroom has a growth cycle of 75 days. The team strictly controls temperatures, keeping it between 20°C and 25°C during the mycelium phase, and dropping it to 18°C to 23°C during fruiting. Each jar yields an average of four grams of dried mushrooms. Meanwhile, Shiitake is grown on specialised sawdust and rubber-wood pellet logs, requiring a growth cycle of four to six months with harvests continuing for up to a year. Domestically, fresh Shiitake sells for up to ₹3,000 per kilogram. Reishi (primarily sold as spore powder at around ₹4,000 per kilogram) and Lion's Mane (valued at around ₹2,000 per kilogram) are also grown under highly controlled conditions.

Leveraging liquid spawn and environmental control
A crucial key to their commercial success is the use of liquid spawn over traditional grain-based variants. Liquid spawn allows mycelium to colonise cultivation bags twice as fast and can be injected directly using sterile syringes, drastically reducing manual labour. With robust market demands for health supplements globally post-pandemic especially for natural compounds like beta-glucans, selenium, and levostatin found in these medicinal fungi-the three young partners are highly optimistic about the future of their agritech startup. For business enquiries and consulting on high-tech cultivation, the team can be reached directly on 9745391717.