Hielo Peaur Beverages looks to raise funds for expansion

Cross Border Kitchens (CBK), a multi-brand, multi-kitchen, multi-format internet-driven F&B company, is planning to have a multi-city presence. It projected to be present in 7 major cities in India with different formats.

The brand expects to have 570 live PoS and plan to deploy CAPEX of Rs 18 crore. It hopes to create 2000 to 2500 employment opportunities. 

Launched in early 2019, CBK is 3 kitchens strong in Delhi-NCR and operates 6 incredible food delivery brands across multiple cuisines.

CBK’s Offerings

CBK is committed to providing consistent high-quality food across multiple cuisine types, at every possible price point, and via every possible format. The team is guided by achieving excellence in all large and small processes that go into achieving the core objective.

Operational excellence, marketing expertise, and technology backbone support, each of these key processes helping the company bring to market 7 operational brands (with an additional 4 launching in the next 30 days) in 4 different cuisine type at a wide range of price points.

CBK’s brands are deeply integrated with all the aggregators including Zomato and Swiggy and provide customers with a wide variety of choices across price & cuisine spectrums.

Currently, CBK service in anywhere between 10-12 thousand orders every month and is on the path to register Rs 4 crore in revenue by end of the financial year with 3 live kitchens operational in Delhi NCR.  

Recent Fundraise

Cross Border Kitchens has raised an angel round led by Shreedhar Gupta. Shreedhar has invested in CBK in his personal capacity and also joins in as a board member.     

Shreedhar Gupta comes with over 20 years of experience in setting up, running and expanding various businesses in the start-up and automotive sector.

Ishita Yashvi, Mayank Singh, Ahsan Qureshi and Mohit Mehta, Co-Founders, Cross Border Kitchens, said, “We are an Inventive Culinary Community that utilizes technology, culinary art, marketing, and operational excellence to deliver a memorable gourmet experience. Shreedhar comes with a string of successful investments in start-ups. His business acumen will help us scale at an accelerated rate and in achieving our mission to deliver a wholesome food experience at every doorstep at the click of a button.”  

Shreedhar Gupta added, “I am very excited to be part of a team with such energy, excitement, and integrity. I play very safely with my investments and I’m confident that investing in CBK is one of the safest yet best investments I’ve made so far. Not only am I positive of multifold returns but also grateful that this investment in CBK will help me get involved with good food, something I’m very passionate about.”

Chaayos is aiming at expanding its presence to 300 stores from 80 currently over the next three years. The tea cafe chain further targets to have 100 stores by the end of the current fiscal year.

The brand is looking to go deeper into Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru, where it is present now, rather than spreading itself thin by entering new markets.

At present, Chaayos has 8 stores in Bengaluru, and 72 in Delhi and Mumbai combined.

Nitin Saluja, Founder of Chaayos, said, “Every store we open becomes profitable in 3-5 months, with no store taking more than 6 months to become profitable. The focus on stores making money is linked to Chaayos becoming profitable by the time it hits the 300-store mark.”

In the current financial year, the New Delhi-based company aims to grow revenue by 60%, without disclosing the revenue number.

“The company has been able to boost its bottom line by 5% due to use of technology, which has helped reduce wastage, improve consistency and improve stock keeping,” Saluja added.

The company has served more than 1.7 million customers, with the average repeat rate of ordering tea standing at 3.5 times a month.

Chaayos Recent Fundraise

Chaayos has recently secured $21.5 million in a mix of equity and debt funding led by Silicon Valley-based Think Investments. The round has also seen participation from existing investors SAIF Partners, Tiger Global and others. It further includes a $3 million debt investment from Innoven Capital.

Prior to its latest funding round, the company had raised $20 million.

Saluja stated, “We will use the capital to do three things, open new stores, building technology and hiring. We’ve also picked up some debt, as a business like ours where stores make a profit, servicing debt makes sense.”

Indian tea café market

Chai is more than just a cup of tea to start the day in India. It is a drink that Indians can’t live without. Indians have been obsessed with tea for almost forever. The obsession can be seen by the fact that Indians drink around 30 cups of tea for every cup of coffee. The country consumes 837,000 tonnes of Tea every year. With such high consumption of the drink, Chai QSR franchises are emerging as a huge business opportunity.

Tea Franchise: A lucrative business model

A tea franchise is a lucrative business model because of the fewer requirements it needs to start it as a business. For instance, a tea stall requires tea leaves, water, sugar, and other kitchen equipment as their basic requirement. And, in a franchise model, you just have to add up the costs of decor, seating inventory, and employees’ salaries, which also do not require much of an investment.

As per sources, a small tea franchise can be started in an average investment of Rs 9-15 lakhs (investment amount increases with the size of the outlet) for the area of about 100-500 sq ft. All of this together makes tea franchise everyone's cup of tea. 

Rebel Foods has secured Rs 35 crore in debt from venture debt fund Alteria Capital. It is best known for its cloud-kitchen brands Faasos and Behrouz Biryani.

Jaydeep Barman, CEO of Rebel Foods, said, “Alteria has been a tremendous partner in our journey of disrupting F&B on a global scale. Much of our investments go into building state-of-the-art automated kitchens and the venture debt raised by us from Alteria helped us keep our cost of capital lower than equity raise. It has given us a significantly longer runway on our equity funding.”

This investment is done by Alteria from its Rs 960 crore first fund. The company’s portfolio includes scooter rental startup Vogo, generic drugs retailer Generico and hyperlocal on-demand delivery firm Dunzo, among others.

Vinod Murali, Managing Partner at Alteria, stated, “Having known Jaydeep and the team at Rebel for many years now, we have witnessed the phenomenal growth as well as successful diversification of brands adopted by the company. The overseas strategy is well-timed as it allows for better efficiency and the business has a robust Indian base.”

Presently, Rebel is valued at about $500 million, having last raised $120 million in equity in 2019. The firm’s investors include hedge fund Coatue Management, Goldman Sachs and Sequoia Capital, among others.

Business Growth

Founded by Jaydeep Barman and Kallol Bannerjee in 2004, Rebel Foods began operations as a quick-service restaurant chain before pivoting to an online kitchen model. Previously known as Faasos Food Services Pvt Ltd, it rebranded itself to Rebel Foods in 2018.

In India, Rebel Foods runs 325 internet kitchens. It has recently expanded abroad, with operations in Indonesia, Dubai and the UK.

The company operates brands that serve cuisines like biryani, meals, pizzas and desserts. Rebel Foods has a presence in at least 15 Indian cities.

Indian snacking startup Samosa Singh is aiming to expand in 100-plus cloud kitchens by end of 2020. Currently, it operates in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, with plans to establish and consolidate its presence in South India.

Since its founding, Samosa Singh has partnered with leading national brands such as INOX, PVR Cinemas, and Café Coffee Day, among others. In 2019, the startup entered into strategic partnerships with multinational retailers for the launch of its ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook samosa ranges. Recently, it opened the flagship outlet at Bangalore International Airport. 

The brand has recently raised a total of $2.7 million in a Series A funding round led by SHE Capital, along with continued participation from follow-on investors Fireside Ventures. The funding round also saw participation from early-stage fund Equanimity Investments, Japan-based AET Fund, and the AL Trust.

This amount will enable the Bengaluru-based brand to scale up its operations, increase its production capabilities, and expand in multi-cities, while also allowing it to enter the households through their quick delivery via the cloud kitchen model. Samosa Singh was founded in 2016, with the objective of reinventing the king of Indian snacks, the samosa, and presenting it to customers in new and exciting ways. By elevating the familiar joyful experience, Samosa Singh has helped the preferred local snack come a long way from its humble street food origins.

Targeting India’s massive food market, estimated to cross $540 billion by 2020, the brand has emerged as a leading player in the ‘indulgent snacks’ category. Over 100,000 man-hours of R&D have resulted in samosas that are 56 percent lower in fat than their traditional counterparts. Among the brand’s unique offerings are the kadai paneer samosa, the achaari murg samosa, and their trademark chocolate samosa, the Chocossa.

Shikhar Veer Singh, Co-Founder & CEO, Samosa Singh, said, “Passion for our product drives everything we do, and we’re thrilled to have found a set of partners whose ideals align with ours. Their backing and experience will allow us to expand our presence pan-India and increase our production capacity manifold, enabling samosa lovers across the country to experience the change.”

Nidhi Singh, Co-Founder & COO, Samosa Singh, stated, “Samosa Singh was born from a simple realisation in India, leisure time and snack foods are both inextricably linked to the country’s cultural fabric. And what food better exemplifies our country than the versatile samosa. Through Samosa Singh we’ve found a way to strengthen this bond, and by positioning ourselves as leaders in the underpenetrated and fragmented gourmet snack market are poised for immense growth.”

Anisha Singh, Founding Partner of She capital, added, “She Capital was created with a vision to empower & enable high-growth women-led businesses in the country. As our first investment, Samosa Singh led by Nidhi is a great embodiment of this vision. What excited us about them is the unique insights & innovation that Nidhi & Shikhar bring to one of the most consumed snacks in the country. Building on technology, scientific research & key consumer insights without diluting the experience or quality for end-users is what makes this brand a great bet. We’re excited to partner with them as we make Samosa Singh a household name.”

Foodtech unicorn Zomato has secured $150 million in fresh funding from existing investor Ant Financial, a subsidiary of China-based giant Alibaba. The present round of funding is a part of Zomato’s larger $500 million fund raise.

With the latest fundraise, the food delivery platform has received $840 million in funding to date. Post this funding, the total valuation of CEO Deepinder Goyal-led company stands at around $3 billion.

The latest fundraise comes at a time when Zomato is reportedly targeting to acquire UberEats' India business for around $400 million.

The company said, “This is to inform you that Zomato Media Private Ltd. has signed a definitive agreement to undertake a primary fund raise of up to USD 150 million from Antfin Singapore Holding Pte. Ltd., which is an existing shareholder of Zomato, and/or any of its affiliates.”

“The transaction values Zomato at a pre-money valuation of $3 billion,” Zomato added.

In 2018, Zomato secured $210 million from Ant Financial, which received a 14.7% stake, and later raised the stake to 23%.

Other investors in Zomato are Info Edge India, Vy Capital, Sequoia Capital and Singapore-based Temasek.

Presently, the food delivery platform is delivering more than 1.3 million orders a day from 150,000 restaurants across India at over 10 orders per restaurant per day.

Why is food delivery trending?

In India, food trends are continuously changing with the change in eating habits of the ever-demanding consumers and the new concepts heating up the million-dollar food service industry.

From going to a restaurant over dinner or lunch, people today look out for delivery and getting their favourite food delivered to their doorstep. Similarly, rather than going to the grocery store to buy raw materials first and then cook them, customers can push a button and have their meal delivered in around 30 minutes from some of their favourite restaurants.

Seeking this opportunity not only the aggregators or delivery players who started this trend are betting big on this model but restaurants and food players are also eyeing this as the next ground to invest in.

Pros of food delivery

Placing orders online or on such apps proved beneficial for everyone. There are special discounts for new customers or discounts at various restaurants, always going on. A restaurant finder app can easily help you avail such discounts.

Brands and outlets have also started tying up with food delivery and hyperlocal mobile as getting listed on third-party Aggregators has proven very fruitful for them.

Tea chain Chai Kings has secured $1 million in pre-Series A bridge round from an angel investment group, The Chennai Angels (TCA). Hyderabad Angels and TiE India Angels have also participated in this round.

The Chennai-based company offers tea in various flavors. 

Piyush Bhandari, who led the investment from TCA, said, “We are very excited to partner with Chai Kings in the bridge round. We believe the company has a strong leadership team with immense potential to grow and expand across India. The new investment reiterates our commitment towards building a sustainable and scalable Indian QSR.”

Chai Kings delivers tea at customers’ doorstep anywhere in Chennai. The brand uses food-grade, use-and-throw, heat-retaining flasks for safe consumption, ensuring the tea is piping hot for at least an hour.

Jahabar Sadique, CEO of Chai Kings, said, “We are happy with the success and progress of our brand in Chennai, and this funding round will help us expand into newer cities.”

Future Plans

Chai Kings is aiming to reach a 100-store mark in the next five years. The brand aims to be the favorite chai place across India.

Started in 2016, Chai Kings is currently operating 40 stores in the country.

“We hope to enter Coimbatore, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad in this year, and get closer to our target of 100 stores in five years. Apart from expansions, the bulk of this funding will be utilised to strengthen our operations and supply chain management,” Sadique added.

Indian tea café market

Chai is more than just a cup of tea to start the day in India. It is a drink that Indians can’t live without. Indians have been obsessed with tea for almost forever. The obsession can be seen by the fact that Indians drink around 30 cups of tea for every cup of coffee. The country consumes 837,000 tonnes of Tea every year. With such a high consumption of the drink, Chai QSR franchises are emerging as a huge business opportunity.

Tea Franchise: A lucrative business model

A tea franchise is a lucrative business model because of the fewer requirements it needs to start it as a business. For instance, a tea stall requires tea leaves, water, sugar and other kitchen equipment as their basic requirement. And, in a franchise model, you just have to add up the costs of decor, seating inventory, and employees’ salaries, which also do not require much of an investment.

As per sources, a small tea franchise can be started in an average investment of Rs 9-15 lakhs (investment amount increases with the size of the outlet) for the area of about 100-500 sq ft. All of this together makes tea franchise everyone's cup of tea. 

Healthy snacks startup Open Secret has secured an undisclosed amount in seed capital led by Matrix Partners. The round has also seen participation from Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Snapdeal's Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, and Godrej Consumer Products’ CEO Vivek Gambhir.

Operated by Immaculate Bites Pvt Ltd, the startup will use the fresh capital to hire talent outside of the top management team, and build its technological capabilities for sourcing and a distribution network.

Launched by Ahana Gautam and Udit Kejriwal in January this year, Open Secret offers cookies mainly for kids that contain nuts and chocolates as primary ingredients. The food and beverage startup is looking to take a swing at the healthy snacks market in India. The company’s first set of products target sweet snacks that are meant to be packed along with school tiffins.

Ahana Gautam said, “We are committed to addressing a mother’s guilt by providing better options and enabling her to make winning choices for the family.”

Building omni-channel distribution

Open Secret is targeting at building an omni-channel distribution where its products are available through e-commerce players like Amazon, Flipkart as well as a range of large format offline retailers.

Sanjot Majhi, Vice President at Matrix India, stated, “Open Secret is targeting the children’s snacking white-space, with a unique combination of taste and health, something both children and mothers can love.”

Other fundraise in the healthy snacks segment

In the recent past, the healthy snacks segment has recorded a few transactions.

In October 2019, protein bar maker And Nothing Else, a company launched by a former Unilever executive earlier this year, raised seed funding from Matrix Partners and Sauce.vc.

In July 2019, To Be Healthy Foods Pvt Ltd, the healthy snacks maker, received funding from early-stage investment firm Ankur Capital.

A unit of Parle Products Pvt Ltd, which owns the popular biscuit brand Parle-G, backed healthy snack bar maker WIMWI Foods Pvt Ltd in January 2019.

In December last year, Nutrisattva Foods Pvt Ltd, which provides protein-based functional foods under the Proliva brand, had raised funding from the Mumbai Angels Network.

In June 2018, Naturell India Pvt. Ltd, which makes nutrition bars under the Rite Bite brand, got investment from homegrown private equity firm Rabo Equity Advisors Pvt Ltd. In the same month, an early-stage investment firm Sprout Venture Partners and a few high-net-worth individuals invested in Wholesome Habits Pvt Ltd, which sells healthy snack bars under the brand name Eat Anytime.

Svami Drinks, the non-alcoholic beverage maker, has secured Rs 7.5 crore in its pre-Series A round of funding from a mix of institutional and individual investors.

The pre-Series A funding round was led by Rukam Capital Trust, a Delhi-based early-stage venture capital firm. The round has also seen participation from Niren Shah, Managing Director of Norwest Venture Partners India, and Ashish Chand’s family office Yukti Securities.

Sahil Jatana, Co-Founder and Chief Executive, Svami, stated, “We started Svami to create premium aerated beverages that did not exist in the country. Since the launch, we have seen massive product acceptance across retail and HoReCa (Hotel/Restaurant/Café), and are now capitalising on our first-mover advantage. The overall F&B ecosystem in India is seeing an evolution, consumers are a lot more discerning and restaurants want to match up to that.”

The fresh capital will be utilized by the startup for deeper penetration into existing markets and foray into new territories. The funds will also be used for new product development, increasing production capacity and hiring professionals.

Archana Jahagirdar, Managing Partner, Rukam Capital Trust, said, “The founders’ zeal and the product impressed us the most. With increased demand, bar menus now feature global and home-grown liquor brands that need premium mixers to go with them. We look forward to working with the founders to drive their next phase of growth.”

In August 2018, Svami, owned and operated by Foxtrot Beverages Pvt Ltd, had raised an angel round led by Singapore-based VC fund RB Investments.

Portfolio of Svami

Launched in January 2018, Svami Drinks was started by Jatana, Rahul Mehra and Aneesh Bhasin. Apart from the aerated category, the brand also manufactures tonic waters in India.

At present, Svami has five products in the market, including original tonic water, light tonic water, cucumber tonic water, grapefruit tonic water, and the recently launched ginger ale. 

The startup claims that more than half a million drinks have been consumed since the launch of the brand. 

Aneesh Bhasin, Co-Founder of Svami, stated, “All product recipes are curated in-house, along with bottling and packaging.”

The company’s beverage portfolio is available at select retail outlets, wine shops, and restaurants-bars across eight states in the country.

Several other deals

In recent times, Coolberg Beverages Pvt. Ltd, which makes non-alcoholic beer, secured $3.5 million in a Series A round led by RB Investments and existing investor India Quotient.

In May, B9 Beverages Pvt Ltd, which makes craft beer under the brand Bira 91, raised funding from Sixth Sense Ventures, the consumer-focused venture capital firm. The company also counts Sequoia Capital and Sofina among its investors.

British Brewing Company received an initial commitment of Rs 100 crore from investors including NeoMile Capital in its first external equity fundraise in the same month.

In January, Grover Zampa Vineyards Ltd and its investor Quintela Assets Ltd acquired Bengaluru-based wine subsidiary Four Seasons Wines Ltd from United Spirits Ltd for Rs 31.86 crore.

Svami, a company that makes non-alcoholic, aerated beverages, is planning to penetrate deeper into existing geographies. The brand further aims to grow into newer cities of India, apart from expanding the current product line.

The expansion plans come after the company has secured Rs 7.5 crore in Pre-Series-A funding round, led by Rukam Capital Trust, and Norwest Venture Partners India’s Managing Director Niren Shah investing in his personal capacity.

The Series-A funding round has also seen participation from Investor Ashish Chand’s family office, Yukti Securities. Earlier, Svami had raised an angel round led by Singapore-based venture capital fund RB Investments.

Archana Jahagirdar, Managing Partner, Rukam Capital Trust, said, “The founders’ zeal and the product impressed us the most. With increased demand, bar menus now feature global and home-grown liquor brands that need premium mixers to go with them. We look forward to working with the founders to drive their next phase of growth”.

Sahil Jatana, Co-Founder and Chief Executive, Svami, stated, “We started Svami to create premium aerated beverages that did not exist in the country. Since the launch, we have seen massive product acceptance across retail and HoReCa (Hotel/Restaurant/Café), and are now capitalising on our first-mover advantage. The overall F&B ecosystem in India is seeing an evolution, consumers are a lot more discerning and restaurants want to match up to that.”

Aneesh Bhasin, Co-Founder of Svami, stated, “All product recipes are curated in-house, along with bottling and packaging.”

Also Read: Non-alcoholic beer brand Coolberg secures Series A funding of $3.5 mn

Besides launching premium products in the aerated category, Svami is also one of the first brands to produce and manufacture tonic waters in India. At present, the brand has 5 stock-keeping units (SKUs) in the market, including Original Tonic Water, Light Tonic Water, Cucumber Tonic Water, Grapefruit Tonic Water and Ginger Ale.

Since the launch of the brand, over half a million Svami drinks have been consumed.

Eyeing Global Expansion

Svami is presently available in eight states and Union Territories of India, including Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Goa and Pune.

The company boasts of having about 600 clients like Social, Taj, Nature Basket, Modern Bazaar, among others. It has also collaborated with local kiranas in Mumbai and 50 wine stores in Bengaluru.

Recently, the non-alcoholic beverage maker introduced its products in Hong Kong. It is further planning to tap markets such as Singapore, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

Burger Singh has received an undisclosed funding round from existing investors Ashish Dhavan and Sanjeev Bhikchandani. They were also joined by new investors Salgaocar Family Office of Goa, Raghuvanshi Investments Private Limited, family office of Sona Groups MD Sanjay Kapoor and Vikramaditya Mohan Thapar Family Trust. This round was led by RB Investments, a Singapore Based Venture Capital firm, who were also early-stage investors in Swiggy.

The Delhi-based quirky Indian burger brand plans to drive growth by opening Company owned as well as Franchisee owned restaurants. The brand plans to double its workforce by adding another 400 people through its restaurant network in the next 18 months.

The company has invested heavily in its supply chain over the last 6 months which now gives them the capability of having a national reach. The company, however, remains cautious in its approach to its geographical expansion which remains rooted in its philosophy of exploiting demand and supply imbalances.

Kabir Jeet Singh, Founder and CEO, Burger Singh, said, “The online burger delivery segment’s growth rate has only been second to that of biryanis and I feel we are in a good position to capitalise on our early successes. We have a really good product that we are very confident of and I think we have been able to achieve consistency of quality and service, which has been rewarded by the consumer via high repeat rates. We want to maintain our rate of growth rate at a comfortable and steady pace.”

Burger Singh is the largest chain of non-franchisee-based home-grown burger brands in India, which currently has the capability of serving 18.6 million people through its network. In total, it has 23 restaurants based in the Delhi NCR and 4 more spread across Nagpur, Dehradun and Jaipur. Burger Singh also has an international presence through the franchisee route and has opened 4 outlets in the last 12 months in London, the latest format being an innovative food truck at the Excel exhibition centre, London.

Coolberg has secured $3.5 million in Series A funding round led by RB Investments (Singapore-based family office) and its existing investor, India Quotient. Ashish Goenka, Chairman of Suashish Diamonds Ltd, and a pool of investors from Indian Angel Network (IAN) have also participated in the round.

Coolberg was started by Pankaj Aswani and Yashika Keswani in 2016. The brand operates in the premium soft beverages category, catering to those who do not want to consume alcohol due to religious and cultural beliefs and lifestyle or health choices but still wish to enjoy premium beverages.

The offerings of Coolberg include non-alcoholic beers in flavours such as malt, ginger, mint, and strawberry.

Yashika, Co-founder and COO, Coolberg, said, “The Indian beverage market is witnessing an interesting transformation with an increased demand for new flavours. All our variants are unique, refreshing, and new to the market. Our R&D team is strong and keeps a close eye on consumer needs.”

Earlier, Coolberg had raised an undisclosed seed funding in 2018 from venture capital firm India Quotient and IAN’s maiden fund.

Pankaj, Co-Founder of Coolberg, added, “Basically, anywhere you find a cola, we want you to be able to find a Coolberg as well.” He added that the fresh investment would help the company to strengthen its distribution network and enhance brand awareness.”

At present, the brand has distribution networks across major Indian cities, with 12,000 outlets across states including Bihar, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, UP, Jharkhand, Goa, Karnataka, Telangana, West Bengal, and Rajasthan.

Food and beverages company Intergrow Brands Pvt Ltd has raised Rs 80 crore funding from Investcorp, a Bahrain-based private equity firm. The Kerala-based company, earlier known as Intergrow Foods & Beverages Pvt Ltd, is part of Synthite Group, a value-added spices company.

Ashok Mani, MD and CEO, Intergrow Brands, said, “The funds will be used for the market expansion of our brands, Kitchen Treasures and Sprig, which is a premium gourmet brand.”

Launched in 2013, Intergrow’s flagship brand Kitchen Treasures has around 70 products in categories like spices, masalas, pickles and culinary paste. Kitchen Treasures has emerged as the second biggest spices brand in Kerala within a span of five years. The company is now planning to expand the brand to the rest of the country as well as overseas, including the GCC, the US and Australia.

Intergrow Brands has expanded its profile with the launch of the premium Sprig brand. It is all set to become an innovative national player. 

Regional cuisine-focussed cloud kitchen Zesty Kitchen has secured Rs 3 crore in funding from a clutch of angel investors.

The investors in the funding round include former Abbott India Managing Director Rehan Khan, ITC Ltd Divisional Chief Executive agri business Sanjiv Rangrass, Cleanmax Managing Director Kuldeep Jain and Suhail Sameer, the Chief Executive Officer at RP-SG FMCG.

The round has also seen participation from other angel investors including Ravi Shah, Sanjaya Sathapathy, Spencer Stuart India Head Rohit Kale, Rishad Abraham of Social Finance India, Prashant Kapoor, Sameer Taneja, and IndusInd Bank Chief Operating Officer Paul Abraham.

Founded by Sambit Sathapathy and Aditya Singh, Zesty Kitchen started operations in Mumbai’s Powai area.

The cloud kitchen company is eyeing to expand to the Andheri and Malad regions of Mumbai. It is further introducing its businesses in the commercial hubs of BKC and Parel in the city.

Zesty Kitchen eyes to set up several regional and consumption-specific sub-brands, with a view to expand to more than 1,000 kitchens by 2025. At present, the company is operating at least two sub-brands, including Jamai Shoshthi and Medha Malvan.

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Lite Bite Foods Group is looking to raise about Rs 250 crore funds from private equity firms. It eyes to make its airport franchise business a separate entity. 

Lite Bite Foods is the food and beverage retail business led by Dabur Group Chairman Amit Burman. It is co-promoted by Burman and Rohit Aggarwal. 

The group’s promoters are planning to dilute a minority stake in the retail foods business, which presently has an enterprise value of Rs 1,000-1,200 crore.

The official said, “Lite Bite Foods proposes to induct a private equity player into the retail business and has mandated investment bank KPMG to look for investors. Both the retail foods and airport businesses contribute equally to sales.”

Rohit Aggarwal stated, “We are looking forward to entering a new growth phase and see enormous potential to expand our overseas business.”

LQI, the Gurugram-based beverage startup, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from singer turned angel investor Sukhbir Singh. This is Singh’s very first investment in India. 

This investment is a part of $2,00,000 seed funding round that LQI is raising from angel investors. The funds will be used by the startup to increase the production capacity and the geographical expansion to newer markets.

Sukhbir said, “LQI’s core differentiator lies within its exceptional product and technology that targets urban youth to upscale lifestyle on a daily basis and parallelly helping restaurants to offer fresh beverages to the masses without any hassle.”

LQI was founded in mid-2016 by Shubham Khanna, Palak Kapoor, and Kapil Kumar. It utilises its proprietary technology for manufacturing smoothies, milkshakes, and fruit water frozen packs made with 100% raw fresh fruit.

Currently, LQI works on a B2B2C and HORECA (Hotel/Restaurant/Cafe) model. The startup has collaborated with around over 100 B2B brands such as Pitapit, Innerchef, Donor & Gyros, IHOP, Burgrill, etc.

Mama Mia!, the Kolkata-based premium gelato brand, has raised an undisclosed sum in a Pre-Series A round of funding. The round has been led by Pareto Capital, along with a bunch of High Net Worth Individuals based out of Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi, for about 20% stake. 

With this fundraise, the company is looking to launch over 100 delivery service outlets (DSO) across India in the next 12 months. 

At present, Mama Mia! has more than 25 touch points across 5 cities through online and retail store formats. The company has achieved over 100 percent growth in online sales on a Q-on-Q basis ended June 2019, driven by 8 delivery service outlets (DSO) in Kolkata and Bengaluru. 

Vikash Agarwal, Co-founder and Managing Director, Pareto Capital, said, “With the ever-increasing health consciousness, Mama Mia! is perfectly poised to take on the dessert industry and become a household name.” 

Established in 2005, Mama Mia! was taken over by Akshat Singhania and Adhiraj Thirani in 2014. It provides a diverse product portfolio that includes low-fat gelato (vegan and sugar-free options too!), gelato cakes, mouth-watering sundaes, thick milkshakes, mousses etc. 

Mcdonald’s India private Limited (MIPL) has raised Rs 70 crores from its parent company McDonald’s International Branch Holdings LLC.

This move comes a month after the US-based Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) chain acquired full ownership of Connaught Plaza Restaurants Limited (CPRL) from its long-estranged business partner Vikram Bakshi.

CPRL runs McDonald’s restaurants in North and East India. It is now wholly owned by MIPL and its affiliate McDonald’s Global Markets LLC or MGM.

Bakshi ended his over-two-decade-old association with CPRL and McDonald’s with the transfer of ownership and management. The association between Bakshi and McDonald’s had started in 1995.

Currently, McDonald’s has two business entities in India. While the first one is CPRL, the other one is Amit Jatia’s Hardcastle Restaurants that runs McDonald’s business in southern and western India.

In order to re-calibrate its processes after taking over the reins from Vikram Bakshi, McDonald’s had temporarily shut down all of CPRL’s outlets in the northern and eastern regions of the country.

The burger giant has reopened a sizable number of those restaurants. It will continue to re-launch restaurants over the coming days and weeks in North and East India.

New Delhi-based Akiva Superfoods, the health and wellness food products startup, has raised about $2 million in Series A funding round. The round has been led by Alkemi Venture Partners.

The fresh capital will be used by the startup to expand the portfolio by adding a wide range of innovative superfood-based products across categories and to get the right talent across functions. The company will also be deploying funds to expand in new markets and bolster retail channels through high impact marketing.

Shalabh Gupta, Founder and CEO, Akiva Superfoods, said, “Ever since its inception in 2016, Akiva Superfoods has been one of the fastest-growing health food players in the FMCG market. Our ultimate aim is to be an innovative and exciting independently-run FMCG company, with a capacity to scale exponentially across Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities in the next five years.”

A spokesperson from Alkemi stated, “With robust direct-to-consumer, e-commerce and modern trade channels, Akiva Superfoods is data-rich, close to their customers and uses meaningful insights to develop products to scale. This is in-line with Alkemi’s mission of elevating the health and well-being of people around the world, and we are confident that this round of funding will propel the organisation to drive real value.”

Indonesian ride-hailing giant Go-Jek’s investment arm, Go-Ventures has invested $5 million in Indian cloud kitchen company Rebel Food’s ongoing series D round.

Rebel Foods owns an array of cloud kitchen brands like Faasos, Oven Story, Lunch Box, Behrouz, and The Good Bowl. 

The company has raised $20.9 million in its ongoing Series D round so far. The round has seen the participation of its existing investors like Lightbox, Sequoia and Evolvence. 

In March, Rebel Foods raised around Rs 110 crore as a part of its Series D1 round from its existing investors. The company said that the fresh capital will be used to expand its network of kitchens from 200 to 500.

The Pune-based cloud kitchen platform will also step up its global expansion by foraying into Dubai and Indonesia. In addition to this, the company further looks to invest in automation and robotics for reducing manual labour in its kitchens.

Restaurant start-up Zorambo is looking to launch its first outlet in London in the next few weeks, making its international debut. Currently, the brand is operating four outlets in Gurugram and New Delhi.

Also, Zorambo is in talks with venture capital firms to raise about $5 million in Series-A funding, which it expects to close by September-October.

Dhruv Verma, Co-founder of Zorambo, said, “We aim to bridge the gap between premium cafés and fine dining restaurants. So, Zorambo is positioned in the premium casual dining restaurant space that not only offers a curated menu of Indian fusion food options but also has a wide array of beverage options.”

The start-up is planning to expand its footprint to 16 outlets in this financial year.

“By March 2020, we plan to have six operational outlets in Delhi-NCR, four outlets in Bengaluru and six outlets in London. We have aggressive plans to have 200 outlets in India and UK in the next 48 months with an investment of $50 million,” Verma stated.

He further added, “We are in talks with VCs to raise about $5 million. The brand is getting significant investor interest from both India and the UK markets. In the next 48 months, the focus will be to open company-owned restaurants and we will look at franchise-operated stores at a later stage.”

Impresario Entertainment & Hospitality will raise a fresh investment of $50 million to fuel its market expansion activities. The Mumbai-based company owns and runs a bouquet of a fine-dining restaurant, cafe and lounge brands such as Social, Smoke House Deli, Salt Water Café, Mocha and Flea Bazar Café.

Promoted by celeb restaurateur Riyaaz Amlani, the restaurant chain had raised $45 million from LCatterton Asia, the regional franchise of Connecticut-based global private equity firm LCatterton, in December 2017.

Amlani, CEO and MD, Impresario, said, “This time again, the funds are going to come from the same PE firm. We will use this money to expand all our existing brands and also to foray into new formats.”

Presently, Impresario has 23 outlets of Social, its all-day café and collaborative workspace format.

“We are witnessing great traction around Social and, therefore, we are scaling up this model. We will have 150 outlets of Social across the country by 2024,” Amlani stated.

Recently, the food company introduced Ishaara, an exclusive brand of restaurants manned by the speech and hearing impaired, in Mumbai. A team of 28 people is required for each Ishaara outlet.

Amlani added, “Speech and hearing impaired people are very special in many ways. They are more attentive, focused and come with a natural smile, a critical prerequisite for hospitality.”

B9 Beverages Pvt Ltd, the maker of Bira 91 brand of craft beer, has introduced its biggest-ever fund raise of as much as $100 million. The proceeds of the Series C fundraise will be utilized by the company to support its growth plans.

The latest fundraise will be about double the nearly $50 million raised last year by the Sequoia Capital-backed company. This round was by Belgium-based investment firm Sofina. The round has also seen participation from existing investor Sequoia. The transaction valued New Delhi-based B9 Beverages at nearly $210 million.

In May 2019, B9 Beverages raised $4.3 million from Sixth Sense Ventures, a Mumbai-based consumer-focused venture capital fund, in a bridge round to the Series C round.

Founded in 2015, Bira 91 focuses on mild beers, believed to be preferred by urban consumers.

Anil Joshi, Managing Partner at Unicorn India Ventures, a venture capital firm, said, “Bira would be the next big brand to watch out for; they understand the pulse of the consumer and are coming up with the right product mix. Their visibility during (ICC Cricket) World Cup will give them additional leverage not only in India but also overseas.”

“I feel Bira has the potential to be among the top two brands in a few years in India,” he added.

Craft beer company Bira 91, owned by B9 Beverages Pvt Ltd, has raised $4.3 million in its Pre-Series C round from Sixth Sense Ventures, the consumer-focused venture capital firm. The transaction has valued the company at $246 million.

Sixth Sense Ventures has been allotted five lakh Pre-Series C preference shares for Rs 30 crore.

So far, Bira 91 has raised $74 million in funding from angel investors including Bollywood bigwigs Farhan and Zoya Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani, as well as prominent names in the tech sector like Flipkart’s Chief Executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy.

In April, Bira 91 entered into the mass beer market with the introduction of a sub-brand Boom. Presently, Boom is available in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.

The company is expecting to expand its production footprint five-fold to 2,000,000 barrels before the summer of 2019, from its current capacity of 350,000 barrels. 

Paytm will lead $15 million funding round in Bengaluru-based food catering platform HungerBox. This fundraising round will also be seeing participation from the company’s existing investors.

Paytm’s move is marking its foray into the organised food technology for institutions category. It will help the company to tap into the high-frequency B2B food ordering business. 

HungerBox had raised $4.5 million in a Series A round in July 2017. This round was led by Neoplux and Sabre Partners, an India-focused private equity fund. Singapore-based Lionrock Capital and Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-Founder of Infosys, also participated in the round. 

A person aware of the deal said, “HungerBox has been growing three times year-on-year, and it fits in with Paytm’s strategy of a deep integrated play across all categories.”

“Paytm’s O2O strategy involves launching PoS and invoicing for merchants. Similarly, the HungerBox investment is an entry into the food and beverage management solutions business from the merchant’s side,” he further stated. 

DoorDash, a food delivery startup, is raising at least $500 million from investors in a funding round. This round will likely value the company at about $13 billion.

Door-Dash is competing against the likes of Grubhub and UberEats. Launched in 2013, it is an app-based food delivery service that allows consumers to order food from their favourite restaurants.

In February, the company raised $400 million, which valued it at $7.1 billion. This round brought DoorDash’s total funding to about $1.4 billion, from investors like Sequoia Capital, Soft-Bank’s Vision Fund and Dragoneer Investment. 

The company had tripled annual sales in 2018 and recorded net revenue of $107 million in November.

Brewhouse Ice Tea is planning to raise around $2-3 million by the end of this fiscal. Last year, the Delhi-based start-up had secured $2.6 million funding from Food Empire Group, Singapore-based FMCG firm.

Siddharth Jain, Founder and CEO, Brewhouse Ice Tea, said, “The company has been growing by over five times, annually. While the funds will take care of its growth for the next couple of months, it might need to raise additional capital in the next six-eight months.”

So far, Brewhouse has sold about one million bottles of flavoured ice tea.

“We are looking to sell around 5 lakh bottles a month and hope to achieve that this year. Capital is sufficient for now, but we might go in for next round of fund raising after six-eight months,” Jain added.

Presently, the company has four flavours like citrus green, classic lemon, classic peach and honey mint. It is further eyeing to add four more flavours, including masala, forest berry, mojito lime and jamun berry tea, to keep up with health-conscious millennials.

Brewhouse is present in more than 4,500 stores across 10 cities such as Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru. The brand is targeting to reach out to 10,000 stores by the end of this fiscal.

The start-up has collaborated with more than 500 restaurant and cafe partners for the distribution of its brand.

Jain stated, “Our products go well with all types of cuisine, hence we enter into tie-ups with hotel chains, restaurants and cafes. Nearly 30 per cent of our sales come from institutional tie-ups.”

Charcoal Eats, the Mumbai-based Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) chain, is in advanced discussions to raise around Rs 40 crore via institutional venture capital funds. This round is likely to be closed in the next couple of months.

Krishnakant Thakur, COO and Founder, Charcoal Eats, said, ''We are in the process of raising a Series A round. The agenda is twofold. Around Rs 22-23 crore will be utilised as capital expenditure for setting up new outlets and at least Rs 10 crore will be marked for marketing and branding purposes."

In May 2018, Charcoal Eats had raised Rs 5 crore in a pre-series-A round from high net individual investors like Rajesh Ramanathan, Head Global Growth of Mondelez.

Charcoal Eats was founded by Anurag Mehrotra, Gautam Singh, Mohammed Bhol and Krishnakant Thakur in 2015. Currently, the company has 43 outlets across 12 cities. It is further planning to expand to 250 outlets by March 2020, of which, 150 will be owned by the company and 100 franchised.

Charcoal Eats’ 77% of the business was generated from online orders, while only 23% from the dine-in or takeaway facility.

Health food startup Evolve Snacks has raised an undisclosed sum from ITI Growth Opportunities Fund, a venture capital firm. The fresh capital will be used by the company to enter the retail space.

Presently, the company sells through its online portal. Moving forward, it will be collaborating with retail brand chains as well as with traditional FMCG distributors.

In 2018, Investment Trust of India (ITI) Group unveiled an early-stage venture capital fund, ITI Growth Opportunities Venture Fund. This is the capital firm’s third investment after backing smart mobility startup Revos and healthcare firm Ten3t.

The food startup was founded by Angad Sehgal. The company raised its first round in 2017 from 50K Ventures, a Hyderabad-based early-stage investment firm.

Mohit Gulati, CIO & Managing Partner, ITI Growth Opportunities Fund, said, “Today's Indian is more evolved and conscious of their food habits. We are excited to see mass adoption to better tasting healthy offerings in the times to come.”

Teamonk Global, the home grown specialty tea brand, has raised $1 million in pre-series A funding round. This round has been led by former McKinsey Chief Rajat Gupta and Roots Ventures.

The fresh capital will be used by the company for scaling up its portfolio of premium teas and for reaching new geographies.

Japan Vyas, Founder, Roots Ventures, said, “We are pleased to invest in Teamonk, since it is an emerging leader in the curated specialty teas space. We see India is an ‘under beverage’ country – with not many beverage brands and choices. However, with promoters like Ashok and Amit and their years of experience across conglomerates in India and overseas, an interesting ecosystem has been built at Teamonk. This has opened up numerous possibilities in the beverages play with strong overseas market. We look forward to working with them as they go about building the business and the brand.”

Amit Dutta, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Teamonk Global, added, “Teamonk Global aims to reposition tea as an exciting and refreshing beverage, fulfilling the deeper consumer need of ‘Looking Good and Feeling Good’. We are very excited with the repeat buying frequency from consumers and their feedback on our product quality being absolutely top notch. We look forward to establishing Teamonk as a global Indian brand.”

Teamonk was founded by Ashok Mittal and Amit Dutta in 2016. The company sells premium specialty tea sourced from the Nilgiri hills in Tamil Nadu and Darjeeling in West Bengal.

Bengaluru-based MilkLane has raised Rs 27 crore in pre-Series A funding round. The funds have been raised from Pioneering Ventures, Schreiber Foods and ultra-high net worth families.

Gaurav Haran, Chief Operating Officer, MilkLane, said, “The funding is utilised in scaling up the procurement platform and cattle feed business. It is also invested in launching and scaling up the MilkLane UHT (ultra-high temperature) product for consumers in Bengaluru.”

The dairy supply chain start-up is looking to connect with more than one lakh dairy farmers by setting up over 1,000 bulk chillers in the next decade. It has a presence in 500+ premium stores in Bengaluru.

“The company’s asset-light model can be replicated across multiple geographies in the country. Currently, active in the southern states (viz. Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka), the dairy start-up can very easily scale up operations in the west and east as well,” Haran stated. 

He further added, “Additionally, the company plans to strengthen its cattle feed business to support the milk quality requirements and achieved a penetration level of over 50 per cent in its network. Further, the plan is to make the products available to farmer beyond the MilkLane’s network.”

Zomato, an online restaurant discovery and food delivery platform, has raised about Rs 441 crore in a fresh round of funding led by Delivery Hero, Naspers-backed German food-tech major. This round has also seen participation from Chinese investors Shunwei Capital and Saturn Shine.

The capital infusion is part of the ongoing Series I round of Zomato. This round is likely to value the Gurgaon-headquartered company at about $2 billion. 

Delivery Hero will pick up 2.26% stake in Zomato, for an investment of Rs 350 crore. While Shunwei Capital is putting in Rs 35.06 crore for a 0.23% stake.

Last year, Berlin-based Delivery Hero sold its Foodpanda India business to ride-hailing platform Ola. This marked Ola's maiden foray into the food delivery space.

The Gurugram-based dairy startup Country Delight has raised $10 million in a funding round led by venture capital firm Matrix Partners. The round has also seen participation from the startup's existing investor Orios Venture Partners.

The fresh capital will be used by Country Delight to scale up its operations across India.

Chakradhar Gade, Co-Founder of Country Delight, said, "This is the first step for us to achieve the goal of building one of India's largest consumer brands that are direct-to-home."

Founded in 2013, Country Delight provides delivery of fresh milk, paneer, curd, and ghee to homes through a subscription model. Currently, the firm is catering to customers in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Pune.

Avnish Bajaj, Managing Director, Matrix Partners India, stated, "We have been tracking Country Delight for more than a year now and have been very impressed with Chakradhar and Nitin’s vision for it backed by strong on-the-ground execution and customer feedback." 

फूड डिलीवरी ऐप जोमैटो, ने अमेरिका स्थित ग्लेड ब्रूक कैपिटल से नए फंडिंग राउंड में 284.42 करोड़ जुटाए हैं।

गुड़गांव स्थित कंपनी द्वारा फंड डालने के लिए ग्लेड ब्रूक को 1300 वर्ग श्रेणी प्राथमिकता शेयर मिले हैं। ये निवेश जोमैटो की सीरीज-I वित्तीय राउंड का हिस्सा है।

अब तक, जोमैटो फंडिंग में करीब 600 मिलियन डॉलर जुटा चुका है। इसने आंट वित्तीय, चीन के अलीबाबा ग्रुप होल्डिंग की सहयोगी, से अक्टूबर में 210 मिलियन डॉलर जुटाए हैं।

जोमैटो फ्रेश फंडिग में एक बिलियन डॉलर जुटाने के लिए चीनी निजी इक्विटी प्लेयर प्रिमावेरा कैपिटल से बातचीत कर रहा है। पिछले साल, फूड डिलीवरी फर्म ने फंडिंग के दो राउंड में आंट वित्तीय से 410 मिलियन डॉलर जुटाए हैं।

ग्लेड ब्रूक कैपिटल विश्व की टेक्नोलॉजी कंपनियों को विकास पूंजी प्रदान करता है। कंपनी ने पहले अलीबाबा ग्रुप, उबर, एयरबीएनबी, स्नैप और वीवर्क में निवेश किया है।

उद्योग विश्लेष्कों के अनुसार, ऑनलाइन फूड डिलीवरी मार्केट एक महीने में औसतन 40 मिलियन से ज्यादा ऑर्डर ले रहा है।

Zomato, food delivery and restaurant discovery platform, has raised Rs 284.42 crore in fresh funding round from US-based Glade Brook Capital.

Glade Brook received 13,000 class 1 preference shares for the fund infusion by the Gurgaon-based company. The investment is part of Zomato’s series-I financing round.

So far, Zomato has raised around $600 million in funding. It had raised $210 million in October 2018 from Ant Financial, an affiliate of China’s Alibaba Group Holding.

Zomato is also in talks with Chinese private equity player Primavera Capital to raise up to $1 billion in fresh funding. Last year, the food delivery firm had raised $410 million from Ant Financial across two rounds of funding.

Glade Brook Capital offers growth capital to technology companies worldwide. The company has earlier invested in the Alibaba Group, Uber, Airbnb, Snap and WeWork.

According to industry analysts, the online food delivery market is clocking more than 40 million orders a month on an average.

In order to fund expansion plans, Chennai-based agritech startup WayCool Foods has raised Rs 120 crore by a combination of equity and debt from angel investors, institutional lenders, including from Northern Arc Capital and Caspian.

The funds raised will be used by the company for expanding operations across southern and western India, bolstering its technology platform and reinforcing its supply chain.

Set up in 2015 by Karthik Jayaraman and Sanjay Dasari, WayCool Foods is operating full-stack, broadline product range across multiple channels and categories such as fresh produce, staples and dairy.

Sanjay Dasari, Co-Founder of WayCool Foods, said, "Along with rapid growth, we have always been committed to profitability, and almost all of our business lines are operationally profitable. We had committed to open and operate three locations after our last institutional fund-raise – we are currently operating in 13 locations. WayCool takes pride in the fact that over 70% of our tonnage is sourced directly from farmers and farming partners, with 100% of payments made digitally in 3-5 days, substantially enhancing the farmer’s return on capital employed."

Karthik Jayaraman, Co-Founder and CEO, WayCool Foods, added, "We are committed to solving India’s food supply chain problems while making a substantial positive difference to the farmers and consumers. We aim to build a large food distribution business by leveraging cutting edge technology to create efficiencies and reduce information asymmetry in the supply chain, with high-quality phy-gital assets. As we continue scaling across product segments, geographies, and business lines, we will continue to raise funds but at the same time remain capital efficient and achieve quality, mature business at scale by carefully calibrating the stage of the business to the funding needs."

Online food delivery platform Zomato is in talks to raise between $500 million and $1 billion in a new financing round from Chinese private equity major Primavera Capital and Alibaba’s payments affiliate Ant Financial, along with other investors.

Last month, Zomato’s rival Swiggy raised $1 billion funds, which valued the startup at $3.3 billion.

One of the sources familiar with the development said, "Primavera may invest about $200 million in the upcoming round while the remaining amount could come from Ant Financial. The company is also talking to other investors to syndicate the round."

A Zomato representative reportedly stated, "There is a new round that we are talking to potential investors (including Ant Financial) for our new fundraise. This will be at a premium to the last round as the company has more than doubled in size since the last round was finalised."

A person privy to the discussions added, "The easy option for Zomato is to raise the new funds from Ant Financial considering they are now the most influential, deep-pocketed investor on their capitalisation or cap table. But they have been engaging with a set of new investors and looking to close the deal over the next few months."