MasterChow raises INR 3.5 Cr in seed funding from WEH Ventures

Ready-to-cook asian cuisine brand MasterChow has raised INR 3.5 Cr (462,000 USD) in a seed round led by WEH Ventures.

The round also saw participation from prominent angel investors such as Aditya Singh and Ravi Shroff.

It is planning to utilise the raised funds to double down on its manufacturing capabilities, product development, hiring new talent and geographic expansion plans.

“We want to be the disruptor brand in the $3 Bn ready-to-cook category specifically focusing on the Asian sauce and condiment market. The covid-19 pandemic has created a shift in consumer preferences for better quality products and for transparency with ingredient sourcing, which has been a great propeller for us,” Sidhanth Madan, Co-founder, MasterChow.

Founded in June 2020 by Vidur Kataria and Sidhanth Madan, MasterChow is focused on solving daily woes for two broad categories of demographics. For millennials aged between 25-44 years who are leading fast paced lives, are crunched for time and are looking to experiment with world cuisines, MasterChow is their one-stop solution for both health and taste. The second group is larger joint households preparing comfort meals for different generations, looking to make a shift from the conventional ghar ka khana, yet wanting to keep the health and hygiene quotient high on the plate.

“Indians love Chinese & other Asian cuisines, however the reason people don’t venture to cook this at home regularly is because of the lack of high quality ingredients available in the market. When we tried MasterChow sauces for the first time, it became very apparent what the market was missing. We believe they’ll end up leading the RTC market for this segment in the next 3-5 years,” added Rohit Krishna, General Partner, WEH Ventures. 

The brand since inception has been able to serve over three lakh families. It has also witnessed strong traction in tier 1 and tier 2 cities with revenue growing over 10x in the last twelve months.

Currently, the brand is shipping to 17,000 pincodes (2800 cities) in India. Their products are currently available on online marketplaces like Amazon, BigBasket, Grofers, Instamart, and offline stores such as Modern Bazaar, etc.