QwikPik Bags Rs 26 crore from RB Investments, Flipkart's Binny Bansal, others

In a round led by Singapore based RB Investments, QwikPik Technology has raised $4 million (about Rs 26 crore) in a fresh round of funding. Qwikpik owns and operates the Yumlane brand of fresh food products.

The Series-A round of funding also saw participation from the Mumbai-based fast-moving consumer goods startup’s existing backers, a list that includes, Flipkart Co-founder Binny Bansal, Rehan Yar Khan-led early-stage venture capital firm Orios Venture Partners, and a host of high net worth individuals. This follows that $1 million seed round raised by the company in August 2016 as came in the reports.

According to Hitesh Ahuja, CEO of Yumlane, the company will use the proceeds towards new product development, ramp up its distribution and retail footprint and marketing. “We believe the timing is right to build a brand in the FMCG sector, and more specifically, in the fresh chilled foods space,” Ahuja said.

Yumlane is currently present in Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. According to the CEO, the company is clocking an annualised run rate of three million units and plans to grow this to 10 million units by December this year.

Harshavardhan Bothra, principal at RB Investments said, “Yumlane has two great ingredients — its product and founder. Evolving India’s millennials needed exciting ready-to-cook food in world-class facilities with highest quality standards…We believe that snacking is a large unbranded opportunity for consumer brands. Working with an experienced founder like Hitesh in this gigantic space is very thrilling.”

“The rapid rollout, since we invested the seed capital a year back, now touches over 2,500 outlets and is expected to approach 50,000 in a year,” Khan said. This is the latest investment in the FMCG-focused startup space, which has begun to attract attention from venture capital investors. In July last year, Verlinvest, the Belgium-based investment holding company led a fresh Rs 90 crore funding round in Greek yogurt maker Epigamia.