Day 2 of World Food India concludes with Rs. 73,281 Crores worth of MoUs

Actor Arjun Kapoor has invested in home food delivery company Foodcloud.in, turning into a co-investor of the company. Foodcloud.in will be empowering women.

Arjun said, "My aim at investing in Foodcloud.in is to contribute towards a larger societal purpose - of empowering the homemakers to contribute towards their family income."

"It not only boosts household income leading to a better lifestyle but also drives gender parity for the woman at home or in her neighbourhood. To me, that's a tiny step towards parity, towards empowerment in society at large," he added.

The 33-year-old actor further stated, "By signing the Foodcloud.in platform, women can convert their valuable skill set into an economic asset for themselves and their families."

Foodcloud.in is led by CEO Vedant Kanoi and Co-Founder Sanjhi Rajgarhia. The platform runs on the premise of home cooks delivering hygienic and home cooked food to customers from their kitchens.

Vedant Kanoi, CEO of Foodcloud.in, said, "Having a socially conscious youth icon like Arjun's support is a dream come true. He has enjoyed the homemade food by our talented home chefs in Delhi and we're excited to have his support to grow our initiative to new cities."

A fund managed by Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia has invested Rs 152 crore in South Indian Health Food makers Manna Foods brand.

Manna Foods’ the flagship product of Manna Health Mix is a ready to cook improvisation of ‘sathumaavu’, a traditional homemade multi-grain mixture of cereals, millets and pulses that is cooked in hot milk. Apart from its flagship product, Manna Foods has a strong suite of health food products including ready to cook millet based infant food, millet grains, soya nuggets, dried fruits, purees and pastes.

"Led by Manna Health Mix, Manna Foods has created a unique health food platform with an array of natural, preservative-free and ethnic food products range. At a time when people are quitting synthetic preparations and switching over to organic and traditional food, Manna Foods is excited about the partnership with Morgan Stanley to write a true success story in Health Foods space in India," shared I S A K Nazar, Company's Promoter.

“We are excited to back a fast growing brand such as Manna which has consistently delivered on its customer promise of natural, healthy and high quality products. At a time when India’s eating habits and lifestyles are creating health challenges, we believe that Manna’s natural foods are well positioned to offer appealing choices to consumers. Additionally, foods based on home-grown grains such as millets are regaining popularity, offering ‘superfood’-type nutritional content at an affordable cost. We look forward to driving Manna's next phase of growth," added Arjun Saigal, co-head of Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia in India.

The proceeds will be used to fund company’s expansion in south India as well as provide part exit to existing investors. The company had earlier raised Rs 30 crore from early growth investors led by Fulcrum in 2015.

Ethan Khatri, Partner at Fulcrum said “Having partnered with Manna in 2015, Fulcrum has been very happy working with the Manna team under the able leadership of Nazar. We have always felt that Manna has a strong brand and the same has reflected in the strong sales growth posted by the company over the last two years. Joining hands with Morgan Stanley will further help strengthen Company’s positioning in the FMCG space”.

US food major Cargill will invest $240 million, or Rs 1,500 crore, in India over the next few years as it seeks to expand in the lucrative market where doing business has become decisively easier.

Peter van Deursen, CEO Asia Pacific region said “Company is also adapting to Indian market conditions, learning from successes of Patanjali, which has encouraged it to focus on local aspects of the market instead of blindly launching global products. India is an important market for us and this increased investment demonstrates our commitment to the country and the development of the agriculture and food processing industry in this country. Ease of doing business is much better for sure and we recognise that as well. We see some improvements in some areas compared to where it was 10 years ago. There are positive things happening which helps us to tell a better story outside to our shareholders in USA. GST is very favourable to us. (As is) This notion of food standardisation, safety standardisation, global quality standards and I think some improvement on level playing field where everybody is taxed and treated the same way, especially for a big company like us who wants to grow. Country is so big with 1.4 billion people, so where do you prioritise and focus on and what portfolio? You can’t do everything in a country like this. The complexity of that makes business more difficult. a law-abiding company like Cargill faced unfair competition from local companies which did not follow some environmental laws, or resorted to overloading of trucks to save money, which made a lot of differences in low-margin activities. I think the infrastructure for moving product form one place to another is also difficult. So to have a pan Indian approach is costly. So you have to be very selective in where you invest. With GST, products are moving faster, but on infrastructure, I think a lot needs to be done. They were also seeing consumers going for products made by domestic companies not only in India but in other countries that have more nationalist view”.

Investment will be in Cargill’s current businesses including edible oil, cocoa and chocolates, starches and sweeteners and animal nutrition. Cargill will employ 4800 in the next couple of years, up from the current 3500.

On the whole, though, the business environment is much better he said. "When you go to a more harmonised (taxation) system it will help and make things easy. It was very difficult for us to move products from one state to another. Integration makes it easier." While there are fewer barriers in transportation, infrastructure remains a challenge.

Chevon Agrotech Private Limited, an integrated frozen food company has received its latest round of funding from Singapore-based investment management firm, Greenfield Advisory with a significant million-dollar investment value. Advisors to this deal were Polymath Advisors Pvt Ltd. Chevon will allocate a portion of the acquired funds to expand its senior management team and develop new products. With plans to enhance its reach to all major markets in India, the company will also utilise the funds to launch marketing campaigns, ramp up distribution and drive its international foray in the Middle East and South-East Asian markets. A major driver behind Chevon’s international expansion is the rising popularity of goat meat as a Super food and the vast global potential this untapped market presents.

Chevon Agrotech is a leader in the goat meat segment with solely-owned livestock farms & processing facilities in the country. Quality, the byword at Chevon, underpins all its operations. The company has two main brands of goat meat products, namely Chevon and KUZO. In the premium segment, Chevon offers two frozen product categories, namely Raw and World Cuisine Heat N Eat, while the KUZO brand offers ready-to-eat products under the Fry N Eat range. Besides these, Chevon offers institutional packs of the Raw and Ready to Cook range of products for the HORECA segment. Chevon processes products to the tune of one ton per day and its most popular products include Raw Boneless, Raw Minced, Turkish Kebabs, Cheeseburger, and Moroccan Sausages.

Goat meat is the latest addition to the list of Superfoods this year and it is all set to shake up diets and cuisines across the world. Goat meat’s status as a Superfood is owed to its being high in protein and iron, while being very low in fat, making it a great source of nutrients for meat eaters. The fat content of goat meat is also 50% lower than other types of red meats and is 40% lower in saturated fat compared to chicken. Studies have also shown that consuming goat meat reduces the risks of coronary diseases, helps prevent cancer, improves cholesterol levels, lowers the risk of obesity, and keeps the body healthy.

Rizwan Thakur, Founder and CEO, Chevon Agrotech said, “We are indeed thrilled at the trust that Greenfield Advisory has placed in our brand, our product and business model. The funding received will help us capitalise on the vast global opportunity in the goat meat segment, and promote our products in India, as well as internationally, as a high-quality source of protein with minimal impact on the environment. Also, goat meat being recognised as a Superfood further validates our brand’s message which has further been bolstered by Greenfield's investment. India and the world need this source of protein to be made more readily available and we’ll be leveraging the capital raised in that direction. Moreover, our products are among the best in the market and we ensure a consistent superlative quality across our entire product range by only following the best and approved practices through all stages from production to packaging.”

Deepak Mishra , CEO Greenfield Advisory said, “As an investment management firm, we actively seek opportunities for early-stage investments into fast-growing sectors for funds we manage. We are pleased to partner with Chevon to help build a sustainable goat meat business which has established health benefits and a widespread preference in India. Further, it offers us a unique opportunity to provide consumers with high-quality, protein-rich meat with the convenience of use in various categories.”