SoftBank Eyes Possible Investment to put Zomato on its menu

Optimistic Capital, an Indian investment firm founded by ISB alumni, has introduced the country's first Rs 200 crore microbrewery-focused fund. The fund aims to provide investors with a unique opportunity to enter the growing microbrewery sector, focusing on key hospitality markets such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune.

The microbrewery fund is designed to capitalize on the rising profitability of craft beer establishments and the sector’s overall growth. Industry projections indicate that by 2030, the number of microbreweries in India could exceed 1,000, marking a threefold increase from 2024. In Bengaluru, where there are currently over 80 microbreweries, most report profit margins above 20 percent. Furthermore, international alcohol companies are actively investing in and partnering with local microbreweries to expand their presence in the Indian market.

Bengaluru's regulatory environment has also played a role in the sector's growth, with the government extending operating hours for F&B outlets to 1 a.m. and easing licensing requirements. The minimum space needed for microbreweries has been reduced from 10,000 sq. ft. to 6,500 sq. ft., making it easier for new entrants to join the industry.

Jeff Jose, General Partner at Optimistic Capital said, "The microbrewery sector in India is witnessing significant growth, driven by the increasing demand for craft beers and experiential dining. With more tier I and tier II cities experiencing this shift, our fund is positioned to leverage the opportunities in this growing sector."

Karthik Chandrasekaran, General Partner at Optimistic Capital and Co-Founder of several microbreweries added, "Microbreweries offer a unique environment that caters to a wide range of consumers, regardless of age or socio-economic background. The larger space required for beer production, combined with the flexibility to adapt menus and craft beers, ensures the long-term viability of the microbrewery model compared to traditional F&B formats."

Optimistic Capital's fund is backed by four founding partners, each bringing a diverse range of expertise. Karthik Chandrasekaran, co-founder of URU Brewpark, GCBC, and Record Room in Bengaluru, has extensive experience in the microbrewery space. Jeff Jose has a background in sales and marketing at Kellogg Company in Africa and has advised CXOs of Burger King and Popeyes in the APAC region. Varun Krishnan, with corporate finance and project management experience at Siemens, has managed large-scale microbreweries, focusing on financial strategy. Edwin Daniel has led revenue at Branch International, a $600 million micro-bank, and had successful exits from Myra (acquired by Medlife) and Branch.

The Rs 200 crore fund represents a significant step for Optimistic Capital in advancing India’s microbrewery sector within the hospitality industry, tapping into the increasing demand for craft beer and diverse dining experiences.

Britannia Industries chairman Nusli N. Wadia said the company has earmarked Rs 400-500 crore  for expansion of capacity and new product development, including Rs 300 crore dairy plant whose site may be relocated from Maharashtra to Andhra Pradesh since the company is yet to hear from the Maharashtra government on the incentives.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of Britannia’s 99th annual general meeting here on Monday, Wadia said Britannia has been waiting to hear from the Maharashtra government for over a year on the incentives for the dairy project. “Hence, we are exploring whether to shift the project to Andhra Pradesh,” he said.

Wadia said the company will not enter fresh milk. Britannia has started milk procurement pilot in Maharashtra to strengthen dairy back-end capabilities and will set up cold chains across the country. The company will also enter the filled croissants space towards end of the year, apart from expansion of cake and rusk portfolio, he said.

Britannia leads the biscuits market by value of around one-third share. Wadia said the company wants to enter overseas markets and has set up a dedicated export unit in special economic zone at Mundra. “This will increase our foreign exchange earnings,” he said.

Online food delivery platform Swiggy is seeking attention from existing and new investors to raise funds at a valuation of $2.3-2.5 billion, as it burns cash at a quick pace in a fight for market share in the food delivery space, three people familiar with the matter said,

Swiggy’s rival Zomato which is backed by Ant Financial could be considered as a trigger for the third round of fund raise this year. In June Swiggy had raised $210 million from a clutch of investors in a round that valued it at $1.3 billion, making the startup the fastest to enter the haloed Unicorn Club.

Swiggy was in July offered at least one term sheet with an estimated valuation of $2.5 billion. It is unclear how much money the Bengaluru-based company is planning to raise in this round, but one of the people said it could raise anywhere between $250 million and $500 million.

The Bengaluru-based firm is also planning to raise up to $500 million, valuation may hit $2.5 billion. The round may also see the participation of Some of Swiggy’s early investors, the people said.

Swiggy held talks with a host of new investors including SoftBank, growth equity firm General Atlantic and a couple of Chinese hedge funds for the new round. The Chinese funds are probably Tybourne Capital and Hillhouse Capital, a person said. ET could not independently verify the names.

Hard liquor company Boutique Spirit Brands (BSB) which sells rum and brandy under the brand names of Gladius and Zeus respectively in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh has raised about Rs 6.8 crore ($1 million) from from institutional investors like Kae Capital.

BSB closed FY18 with over Rs 18 crore in revenues selling just across two markets and is targetting gross revenues of about Rs 80 crore by FY19 as it also looks to widen its playground and portfolio.

“We are now looking to launch a whiskey brand as also expand the sale of rum and brandy to eight and four states respectively. We want to have presence across all categories and hence will look at launching a vodka brand in the long term as well,” said Rahul Gagerna, Founder of BSB, formerly the head of marketing at distilleries firm Radico Khaitan.

The company sold 50,000 cases across rum and brandy in FY18 and is looking to sell over 2 lakh cases by FY19.

“Given that liquor is a matter of state jurisdictions and the operational complexity in business, we wanted to back a team that has navigated this in the past. The cofounding team has several decades of liquor experience coupled with strong traction of brands such as Gladius and Zeus made a compelling case for us to invest,” said Navin Honagudi, Managing Director at Kae Capital.

BSB is also planning to add multiple investors for Rs 14 crore in debt finance to establish a considerable retail presence across the hotel and restaurant segment for brand recognition.

Coolberg Beverages Pvt. Ltd, the Mumbai based non-alcoholic beer maker has raised an undisclosed seed amount from venture capital firm India Quotient and Indian Angel Network’s (IAN’s) maiden fund.

According to the company, the raised funds will be channelized to expand business.

Mumbai-based Coolberg seeks to tap into the “sizeable” portion of the Indian population that does not consume alcohol, the statement said.

The company’s beer products come in flavours such as mint, strawberry, cranberry and peach, according to its website catering to the people across more than 75 cities 18 Indian states.

Pankaj Aswani and Yashika Keswani had founded the startup in 2016. Aswani worked with private sector lender Citibank and Keswani was a communications expert at advertising agency MTLB, according to their LinkedIn profiles.

“Non-alcoholic beer is relatively a white space in the beverage segment in India,” said Madhukar Sinha, founding partner at India Quotient.

“While going to pubs and cafes for drinks is a fast-catching trend for Indian millennials, the choice of beverage, especially for people who do not want alcohol, is very limited,” added Sinha. “Coolberg has an opportunity to establish itself as the first-choice beverage for all such non-alcoholic visitors to pubs and cafés,” Sinha said.

Rise in health concerns among consumers and increase in adoption of a healthy lifestyle have also led to growth in demand for non-alcoholic beer, said Anirudh Agarwal, an entrepreneur member of IAN.

Ready-to-eat popcorn maker brand ‘Popi-Corn’, which is owned by Timla Foods has raised $2 million in debt financing from Anicut Capital.

The Chennai-based alternative asset management firm, counts beer brand Bira maker’s B9 Beverages among its prominent investments.

Kae Capital-backed Timla Foods, which has so far raised over $3 million in debt and equity, is present across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Delhi and Bengaluru.

The firm was founded in 2016 and has since expanded to over 35,000 retail touch points in key metros, selling about about 85% of the 3,50,000 packets it manufactures every day.

“We have started our expansion on the B2B side. Over the next two years, general trade and modern trade will form about 65% of our revenues, while B2B will form 35%. Cinema halls and Indian Railways are some of the key areas of focus,” said Prashanth Gowriraju, CEO of Timla Foods.

Hyderabad-based Timla Foods aims to close FY19 with about Rs 80-100 crore in revenue with about Rs 5 crore in monthly turnover at present. The food firm aims to beef up the existing production capacity,

The firm produces popcorn worth Rs 8 crore per month at facility in Andhra Pradesh. A second unit will be set up in northern India to cater to the northern markets.

Bengaluru-based personalisation technology firm, Dishq which is aimed to serve the food and beverage industry, has secured $400,000 (Rs 2.7 crore) pre-seed fund from from Techstars’ food and agriculture technology accelerator Farm to Fork and Arts Alliance.

The Syndicate Fund and angel investor Sven Hensen, founder and managing partner of business analytics firm mayato. Existing investors Zeroth, a startup accelerator, and Artesian Venture Partners also participated in this funding round.

According to the company the raised amount will be used to expand its engineering team and to accelerate its sales and marketing activities.

The artificial intelligence startup takes food science and machine learning into help to predict people’s tastes. Dishq claims to have developed what it calls a ‘food brain’ that can predict both an individual’s food preferences as well as broader industry trends.

The startup was launched in December 2015 by Kishan Vasani (chief executive) and Sai Sreenivas Kodur (technology head), who both previously worked at online food ordering ventures Just Eat and Zomato, respectively.

The tech service provider is currently powering more than 30 million recommendations each month. It claims to have its users across six markets for its first product, a business-to-business (B2B) personalisation engine.

“Our technology essentially brings greater alignment between producers and consumers, and we’re truly honoured and excited to have the backing of such fantastic investors for our vision,” Vasani said.

Alchemy Capital, an investment fund co-founded by Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, has bought about 3.5 per cent stake in restaurant chain Barbeque-Nation Hospitality for Rs 90 crore. The fund acquired the stake as part of a pre-initial public offering deal, valuing the company, promoted by Sayaji Hotels, at around Rs 2,300-2,400 crore, said investment bankers.

The Bengaluru-headquartered Barbeque-Nation, which pioneered ‘over the table barbeque’ concept in Indian restaurants, filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) for its maiden IPO in August 2017. The IPO is estimated to raise over Rs 700 crore, according to merchant banking sources. As per the DRHP, the issue comprises a fresh issue of shares of Rs 200 crore and an offer for sale of up to 61,79,000 equity shares from certain selling shareholders.

In 2013, Ajay Relan-founded CX Partners invested close to Rs 110 crore, followed by an additional investment of Rs 103 Crore in 2015.

According to Technopak, the chain Casual Dining Restaurant (CDR) segment is one of the fastest growing segments in the Indian restaurant industry and is projected to grow at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of approximately 21 per cent from Fiscal 2017 to Fiscal 2022.

According to its DRHP filed in August 2017, Barbeque-Nation had 81 restaurants in India as on June 30, 2017. The public offer will result in around 30per cent stake dilution on a postoffer basis, said another person familiar with the development. According to the company’s DRHP, the company trebled its revenue from Rs 184 crore to Rs 503 crore during the fiscal 2013 to 2017.

In what furthers the wave of consumer brands increasingly finding favour with India's venture capital ecosystem, Kishlay Foods which manufactures snacks, chips and biscuits has raised $15 million (Rs 100 crore) in its latest round of funding. The investment round was led by growth equity investment firm Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) and D.K. Surana, promoter of Intensive Softshare Services (Intensive).

The investment which also features a prominent secondary share sale component, will be used to primarily buyout the existing business partners, as also to expand distribution in North and East India markets, launch additional product lines, and enhance the management team.

“Kishlay foods is well positioned to penetrate deeper in its home markets and expand further in new geographies and products. Kishlay is excited to partner with NVP and Intensive and will benefit greatly from the support of external investors as it looks ahead on to its next phase of growth,” said Sandeep Bajaj, CEO of Kishlay Foods.

Founded in 2003, the Guwahati based firm is a significant regional player focused on the snacks market and currently has a dominant presence in North East India selling products under the brand names of “Non-Stop”, “Kishlay” and “Mamooz”. The product basket comprises extruded snacks, potato chips, biscuits and cookies.

The financing is expected to fuel growth towards establishing a stronger brand platform and capturing an increased share of the organized snack market in India. Mumbai based Intensive is also the sole syndicator and advisor to the deal.

“As part of Norwest’s investment focus on food tech, packaged food and food services, we have been tracking Kishlay Foods for a long time, and have been extremely impressed with the quality of the team, the company’s rapid growth and strategic execution,” said Sumer Juneja, Director at NVP India. “The large organized snacks market in India is estimated to be $8 billion and is growing at 20% CAGR. With its unique products and growing distribution network, Kishlay is well positioned to capture this opportunity,” Juneja added.

Piramal Capital & Housing Finance Ltd (PCHFL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the diversified Piramal Enterprises Ltd, said on Monday that it has invested Rs 650 crore ($94 million) in hotels owned by Gurugram-based hospitality firm SAMHI Group.

PCHFL said in a statement that the structured debt funding will help SAMHI Group with its growth plans and refinance existing lenders across three assets – The Courtyard and Fairfield by Marriott in Bengaluru, Sheraton in Hyderabad and Hyatt Regency in Pune.

The company said that all loans are against operational assets.

The deal marks PCHFL’s third investment in the hospitality sector over the past six months.

Before this, PCHFL had invested Rs 600 crore in the Gurugram-based Vatika Group (Westin Gurgaon and the Westin Sohna) and Rs 600 crore in Advantage Raheja Group (JW Marriott, Bengaluru and the Crowne Plaza, Pune).

PCHFL has also sealed five other transactions worth Rs 450 crore against five hotel assets which are operated by top-tier brands like Taj, Hyatt, Radisson, etc. across regions like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Shimla and Goa.

Of this, the firm will provide Rs 100 crore as last-mile funding towards the completion of the first Taj Luxury Resort in Himachal Pradesh coming up in Theog, near Shimla.

“We believe that this is an opportune time to target the hospitality sector with ‘intelligent’ capital,” said PCHFL managing director Khushru Jijina.

“The industry is firmly on a path of growth, ably supported by both domestic and foreign tourism, has higher disposable income and is witnessing a general change in spending habits of target customers,” Jijina added.

The company has deployed Rs 2,000 crore towards the hospitality sector as it scales its offerings within this vertical to reach a target book size of Rs 10,000 crore in the next three years.

“We continue to see accretive acquisition opportunities in hotel sector and we are perhaps best positioned to take advantage of these,” said Ashish Jakhanwala, founder and chief executive officer, SAMHI Group.

SAMHI was founded by Jakhanwala and Manav Thadani in 2011. In 2016, US-headquartered investment firm Goldman Sachs had invested Rs 441 crore ($66 million at the time) in the PE-controlled hospitality firm for a minority stake.

Equity International, GTI Capital Group and International Finance Corporation had also invested in SAMHI Group.

Unibev is looking to raise Rs 100 crore to fund an expansion drive planned by the premium alcohol startup, founded by former United Spirits managing director Vijay Rekhi in collaboration with bulk alcohol producer Globus Spirits.

“The fundraising will be completed before March 2019 to help us spread to the top 17 markets in the country and enable us garner around a tenth of India’s premium alcohol market, which is currently growing at 9% a year,” Rekhi told ET.

He said the company has launched the Governor’s Reserve whisky using 12-year-old scotch, Oakton Barrel Aged whisky with 18-year-old scotch and a brandy brand, L’Affaire, using three-year-old grape spirit in the southern states.

Unibev’s offerings compete with the premium brands of French giant Pernod Ricard and British company Diageo, which now controls United Spirits.

“In a price-sensitive market, our premium brands are priced very competitively to deliver to consumer aspiration for scotch like smooth and premium blends,” said Rekhi, adding that this was part of a strategy to disrupt India’s premium alcohol market.

The firm is now eyeing to sell 100,000 cases in the first year that could fetch it a 5-7% market share in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Puducherry where it currently sells products. While the semi-premium and premium whisky segments were growing at 7% and 9% a year, respectively, in India, the premium brandy market is growing at 15%.

Rekhi said Unibev’s partner Globus Spirits owns the largest grain-based distillery in India that offered a distinct advantage for the startup’s premium portfolio.

The company is looking at launching whiskies of higher vintage shortly, he said.

Viewing that the Indian market had not seen any innovation in brandy flavours for more than three decades, Rekhi said Unibev’s L’Affaire was a runaway success in the pilot market of Puducherry. “Here again, we plan to launch brandies with higher vintages, shortly,” he said.

Rekhi said Unibev would ramp up its portfolio also with premium differentiated rum, vodka, beer and imported brands. “This is the beginning of a long drawn out disruption by Unibev in all flavours and profitable price points in the Indian beverage alcohol market,” he said.

Micro-hospitality startup SaffronStays has about $2 million from consumer-centric venture capital firm Sixth Sense Ventures. The pre-series A investment marks the first institutional round into the firm and will help SaffronStays expand the number of holiday properties under its platform.

Founded in 2015 by Devendra and Tejas Parulekar, SaffronStays curates and manages hospitality operations, reservations, branding and marketing for private vacation homes owned by high networth individuals. The firm currently operates 45 homes across six states in India and claims to host over 1,500 guests every month.

“We are excited to have Sixth Sense Ventures as our partners in our entrepreneurial journey. We hope to use this money to expand our footprint, work on innovative business models, strengthen our operations and improve our technology backbone,” said Devendra Parulekar, Founder of SaffronStays. As part of this investment, Nikhil Vora, Founder & CEO of Sixth Sense Ventures will join the board of SaffronStays.

Hospitality being a high margin sector, SaffronStays claims to be cash flow positive at a unit level even as it clocks about Rs 5 crore in annual revenues.

“The Indian travel market is massive and yet underserved. We believe that SaffronStays is very well equipped to capture this market with its exclusivity and well-curated offerings and parallely create an opportunity for homeowners to monetize their most valuable and expensive asset,” said Vora on the investment.

Currently operational around Mumbai, Pune, Goa and a few locations around Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, the firm is looking to scale to about 125 properties by the end of 2018 even as it looks to scale to over 1,000 homes over the next 5 years.

Food company, Britannia Industries (BIL) has come up with a greenfield manufacturing facility in the country, at an investment of.`200 crore in Rampur, Assam. The Rampur facility will produce a wide array of Britannia products to cater extensively to Assam and the north-eastern states. The unit has a production capacity of 60,000 tonnes of biscuits annually.

The company already has two manufacturing facilities in Assam with a production capacity of 30,000 tonnes annually. Varun Berry, managing director, Britannia Industries, who was in Assam on Monday, said the facility in Rampur has come up in record time of 14 months. “The way government of Assam has supported us in getting clearances is unprecedented and unseen in any other place in the country,” he said. He added, “Britannia is Rs 10,000-crore company with operations in 75 countries. Northeast India roughly accounts for Rs 600-crore business annually and Assam facilities contribute 8% to the total production. In the three units in Assam, the company has invested close to Rs 350 crore.”

“As government of Assam is initiating for communication with South East Asian countries, we may look at supplying our products from here to those countries. We are diversifying and adding more products, we will soon emerge as a complete food company. Assam could be an ideal base to evaluate business expansion to International markets,” Berry added.

Faraway Foods Pvt. Ltd, a Mumbai-based startup that sells healthful snacks for children under The Mumum Co. brand, has raised angel funds worth Rs 3.4 crore ($500,000) from a clutch of wealthy individuals.

The round was led by Nisa Godrej, executive chairman of Godrej Consumer Products Ltd, and Siddharth Parekh and Sumeet Nindrajog, co-founders of private equity firm Paragon Partners, said a press statement.

The company, which sells snacks such as roasted grain puffs, is going to use the capital mainly for expansion in key metros and Tier-I cities. Currently, the products are available at over 100 stores across Mumbai, Bengaluru and Pune. A part of the capital will be also used to launch more varieties in healthful snacks category.

The company was launched in September last year by Farah Nathani Menzies and Shreya Lamba. “When we became parents, we looked around for healthful, real, yet fun food to feed our children. We soon realised that many parents were in the same boat, but with very few trustworthy options,” Lamba said on the inspiration behind The Mumum Co.

The Mumum Co. snacks are also available on online channels such as Amazon and FirstCry. The brand is set to expand to over eight more cities by the end of the year.

“We strongly believe The Mumum Co. is well-positioned to capture a significant share of the large, untapped healthful snacking market for kids in India,” said Parekh of Paragon Partners.

The Mumum Co. competes with the likes of Timios brand, which raised an undisclosed amount from the seed fund of packaged food company MTR Foods Pvt. Ltd in May this year.

Several deals have been reported in the healthful snacks category in the recent past.

Last month, Wholesome Habits Pvt. Ltd, which sells healthful snack bars under the brand name Eat Anytime, raised $500,000 (Rs 3.43 crore) in seed funds from early-stage investment firm Sprout Venture Partners and a few wealthy individuals.

Homegrown private equity firm Rabo Equity Advisors also invested money in nutrition bar maker Naturell India.

Last year, Mumbai-based LightSaber Food Ventures Pvt. Ltd, which sells healthful snacks through online and offline channels under the Snackible brand, had raised angel funds worth $175,000.

Singapore-based CCube Angels Network has invested Rs 3.5 crore (around $515,000) in health- and nutri-foods maker Inner Being Wellness Pvt. Ltd, which markets its products under the brand ‘Inner Being’.

In a statement, the Hyderabad-headquartered firm said that it plans to use the fresh capital for product development and expansion in tier-1 cities in India and a few other countries.

Launched in 2012 by Pavan Raj Kanungo and headed by CS Jadhav, Inner Being offers items in the wellness, nutricare, and nutrifood categories. It also owns and operates an online store.

“Inner Being is introducing traditional foods like millets, quinoa and other ancient grains in more contemporary formats that appeal to the modern generation such as breakfast mixes, snack mixes, savory snacks, crackers, cookies and energy bars,” said Jadhav.

The company currently offers several millet-based products such as jowar idli, jowar upma, ragi malt, jowar flakes, millet cookies in Hyderabad and is now in the process of expanding to Delhi and Mumbai this year. It plans to spread to 10 cities in couple of years.

Inner Being is also preparing to launch a range of new mixes such as quinoa porridge, millet & nut cake, gluten-free pizza, and millet pancake which will cater to health-conscious consumers.

Inner Being had last year secured funding from Springforth Investment Managers (SIM), a startup accelerator launched by mid-market focused investment banking firm Springforth Capital Advisors Pvt. Ltd.

“We have a strong belief that nutricereals will be the next smart food and specially millet, being a dry land crop, will improve livelihoods at the rural level and at the same time offer nutritious products to the urban consumers,” said Atim Kabra, director of Frontline Strategy, which manages CCube Angels Network.

CCube Angels Network has been structured as a pledge fund. It had earlier backed companies such as Hyperdata.IO, Simbus Technologies, Omnipresent Retail India Pvt. Ltd, Kloneworld, and Cashe.

True Food Kitchen, the award-winning restaurant brand that has pioneered health-driven dining, announced that Oprah Winfrey has made an equity investment in the company and will extend her strategic insight to support the brand’s national expansion. In addition, Winfrey joins the restaurant brand’s board of directors and will collaborate and consult with True Food Kitchen’s leadership team to advance the company’s business and marketing objectives.

Founded in 2008, True Food Kitchen has received national recognition as a culinary leader, with a health-driven menu of seasonal dishes and natural beverages guided by the principles of founder Dr. Andrew Weil’s anti-inflammatory food pyramid. Today, True Food Kitchen operates 23 restaurants in 10 states, with plans to double its store count in the next three years. Key focus areas include new markets on the east coast in New York, New Jersey and North Carolina, in addition to expanding its existing presence throughout Florida, Maryland and more. Still to come in 2018 will be the addition of two new locations in Nashville, Tennessee and Jacksonville, Florida. The restaurant brand currently has 3,000 employees nationwide.

Winfrey was first introduced to True Food Kitchen by friend and health expert Bob Greene, who shares True Food Kitchen’s belief that food should make you feel better, not worse. In addition to being inspired by the restaurant’s healthful food, Winfrey was struck by the brand’s commitment to its mission of bringing people together to eat better, feel better and celebrate a passion for better living.

“I love bringing people together over a good meal,” Winfrey said. “When I first dined at True Food Kitchen, I was so impressed with the team’s passion for healthy eating and, of course, the delicious food, that I knew I wanted to be part of the company’s future.”

“When Winfrey and I first sat down to discuss her potential investment, I was impressed by her genuine passion for the intention behind True Food,” said Christine Barone, Chief Executive Officer, True Food Kitchen. “My hope is that her passion and investment will continue to develop our growing brand to allow even more guests to experience a better way of eating.”

True Food Kitchen believes that delicious dining and conscious nutrition can go hand in hand without sacrificing flavor, creativity or indulgence. Its healthful, flavor-forward menu rotates regularly to showcase the freshest, in-season produce and nutrient-dense ingredients. From thoughtfully crafted cocktails, such as the Citrus Skinny Margarita, made with fresh-pressed citrus and organic tequila, to signature dishes such as Edamame Dumplings, Ancient Grains with miso-glazed sweet potatoes and Dr. Weil’s original Organic Tuscan Kale Salad, True Food Kitchen’s menu celebrates variety and caters to every food preference with an assortment of delicious vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options.

Business-to-business food tech firm HungerBox has raised USD 4.5 million ( around Rs 31 crore) in funding led by South Korea's Neoplux and India-focussed PE fund Sabre Capital.

The series A funding round also saw participation from Lionrock Capital (Singapore) and Infosys Co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, HungerBox said in a statement.

The funds will be used to support the company's growth in India as well for expansion into the southeast Asian market, it added.

"We look forward to working with the HungerBox team as they continue to transform the way large businesses handle their corporate food wellness and their F&B requirements," Sabre Partners Founder and Managing Partner Rajiv Maliwal said.

Started in 2016, HungerBox operates across Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi/NCR, Jaipur and Kolkata.

"We are seeing our business growing exponentially. Employee headcount has doubled to over 400 in less than six months; daily orders have grown to more than 2,00,000 from 1,20,000 in the same period, HungerBox CEO and Co-Founder Sandipan Mitra said.

Premium Biryani chain ‘Biryani by Kilo’ (BBK) has raised about $1 million in its Pre-series A round of funding from a clutch of investors led by Ajay Relan, Founder Chairman at CX Partners and Vinay Mittal from HT Media Strategy.

Currently headquartered in New Delhi, the company is looking to use the capital to scale operations and stores across India.

Founded in 2015 by food veterans Kaushik Roy and Vishal Jindal, BBK was launched with an intent to preserve the Khansama style of cooking wherein the biryani is freshly cooked with rich ingredients, unlike other brands where the food is cooked in bulk and repackaged & sold.

“We aim to make Biryani By Kilo a renowned name in the food service and delivery category from India. With the help of the distinguished team of investors, we will expand both our geographic presence as well as the product range and open outlets in multiple Indian cities,” said Kaushik Roy, Founder & CEO - Biryani By Kilo.

BBK currently has a total of 11 outlets in India across Delhi-NCR and Mumbai. The restaurant chain is looking to expand its footprint in the domestic market by opening over 20 stores in metros by March 2019.

BBK claims to grow at an annual rate of about 70%, currently clocking an annual revenue run rate of about Rs 24 crore. With this fund raise, BBK is aiming to scale its annual revenue run rate to over Rs 40 crore by FY19 end.

As Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s FMCG brand Sri Sri Tattva has earmarked about Rs 200 crore for advertising and promotion as it plans to ramp up its marketing spend, said media buyers.

The firm has entered into the FMCG firm at a time when Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali already dominates the Ayurveda and herbal products sphere.  The new entrant in the field will spend this amount on mass media advertising, outdoor campaigns and below-the-line marketing across the country to support its expansion plan of opening 1,000 stores in the country.

The Bengaluru-based firm was among the largest advertisers in the FMCG category during the recently concluded India Premier League (IPL), spending Rs 10 crore on television advertising.

“For us, this year is a time when our efforts of the past year and a half, in terms of expansion in retail, will be solidifying. Our advertising will be aggressive and healthy, definitely much different from what it was in the past years,” said Tej Katpitia, chief executive of Sri Sri Ayurveda (SSA) Trust, the FMCG establishment that will open ‘Sri Sri Tattva’ branded stores.

He also said that there will be 3-4 major campaigns during this fiscal not only on news channels but also on general entertainment channels and regional networks. This will be coupled with on-ground activation and outdoor advertising.

He, however, refused to comment on the advertising budget, even though media buyers said they are spending about Rs 200 crore on advertising and promotion.

“Our biggest focus is to increase our reach and awareness,” Katpitia explained. Sri Sri Tattva, like Patanjali, will focus on certain categories of products such as toothpaste, personal care items and food products. Out of its total TV advertising spend of Rs 10 crore during IPL, it spent Rs 4 crore on TV advertising for its personal care items, Rs 3 crore for toothpaste, and an equal amount for food products.

The natural segment of India’s personal care market is estimated to be worth Rs 18,500 crore, or almost 41% of the total personal care market, according consumer research firm Nielsen.

Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved, that sells ayurvedic products worth more than Rs 10,000 crore annually, has prompted global and local rivals such as Hindustan Unilever, P&G, Colgate Palmolive, Future Group and Dabur, among others, to either introduce or boost their own ayurvedic products portfolio.

Kishore Biyani’s Future Group, for instance, is closing in on an ayurvedic company and is in advanced talks to acquire Iraya that sells a host of personal care products from Athena Life Sciences, while HUL has relaunched Ayush brand of ayurvedic personal care products, acquired Indulekha hair care brand and launched Citra skincare brand.

Within the personal care and food category, Sri Sri Tattva will focus on face wash, creams and lotions, shampoo, and ghee, range of rice, special products such as organic version of coconut oil and organic jaggery, respectively.

While the products are currently sold through online marketplace such as Amazon, Flipkart, BigBasket, it has tied up with Nykaa to sell personal care products. It has also teamed up with 1mg and MedLife for the ayurvedic and other healthcare products.

The country’s leading FMCG firm, Dabur India has planned to infuse Rs 250-300 crore in capacity expansion this fiscal year along with the acquisitions plans in the domestic market, senior officials said.

"We are going in for brownfield expansion to increase capacity this year. We will have approximately Rs 250-300 crore capex (capital expenditure) for the current year going forward in FY19," Dabur India chief financial officer Lalit Malik said at an investor concall following announcement of the company's March-quarter results recently.

The company has just done a couple of acquisitions in South Africa, and is looking at doing something "substantial" in India going forward, the company's chief executive officer, Sunil Duggal, explained to analysts.

"...we are still looking at some targets but nothing is really coming out of it. Our intent in terms of M&A remains completely intact. We still have over Rs 2,000 crore of cash in the pocket and it will be built up during this year as well. So I think we do have the ability and the resources to do acquisitions even of a large size," he said.

The FMCG major had last month acquired two South Africa-based firms D&A Cosmetics Proprietary and Atlanta Body & Health Products Proprietary through its subsidiary.

Dabur had also announced last year that it will acquire the two personal care products companies for a total cash consideration of 50 million rands (about Rs 25 crore).

Duggal also informed that the company is focusing on international business, as it offers higher margins.

He said, "We would not expand in the domestic business, expansion will come from international, so the blended margins may look better," adding the company should be able to protect domestic margins, but he does not see any great possibility of increasing the same.

Dabur India reported a 19.04 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 397.18 crore in the March quarter, against Rs 333.65 crore in the same year-ago period.

Total income grew 6.38 per cent to Rs 2,106.15 crore, compared with Rs 1,979.72 crore.

In a bid to expand global market footprints, Organic cold-pressed juice and beverage maker Raw Pressery has confirmed to have secured an existing capital of Rs 65 crore (about $10 million) from Sequoia Capital, Saama Capital, and DSG Consumer Partners.

The four-year-old beverage maker is also in talks with family offices and institutional investors to raise an additional $5 million as part of this funding round, which is likely to close in the next 1-2 months.

With this, the total capital raised by the firm stands at about Rs 152 crore, not counting the $5 million (Rs 34 crore) that it is yet to finalise.

Raw Pressery had last raised $6 million from the three existing investors in October 2017.

Founded in 2013, the Mumbai-based consumer startup is looking to use the capital to expand its international footprint to Southeast Asia as also strengthen its distribution and supply chain as it looks to scale new offerings.

“We are looking to start a pilot of our operations in Southeast Asia starting with Singapore and then Kuala Lumpur. We will go live in these markets next year,” CEO Anuj Rakyan said. RAW Pressery is also in the process of setting up a production plant in West Asia to expand its recently launched operations in Qatar, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai.

The firm has also been receiving investor interest from global strategic players and family offices and is likely to close a larger round of investment by FY19-end.

Raw Pressery claims to have grown 120% in FY18 and is looking to grow revenues by about 112% in FY19. The ‘clean-label beverage’ brand is also looking to expand its retail touch points in India to 6,000 by FY19 end from the current 2,000 that it is available in.

The firm, which is also looking to introduce alkaline water later this year, is targeting a turnover of Rs 100 crore over the next two years, aiming to grow over 6 times since FY17.

Juices and smoothies, which form about 90% of the revenues, is the core business for RAW Pressery, which has introduced newer categories including nut milk and soups.

For FY19, expanding the distribution reach for its non-dairy product line including almond milk as also its probiotic range under dairy will be the key growth focus for RAW Pressery as it looks to scale these new categories internationally.

“We have built a lot of defensive moats including our sourcing back-end, own supply chain, intellectual property (IP) and branding. That has helped us scale significantly and meet about 96% of our revenue projection for FY18,” said Rakyan.

RAW Pressery clocked Rs 15.1 crore in operational revenues for FY17 reflecting a strong growth of about 140% from Rs 6.3 crore in FY16, according to financial documents filed with the registrar of companies.

MTR Foods Pvt. Ltd. has debuted in investment arena by investing from its Rs 50 crore seed fund in early stage start-up FirmRoots Pvt. Ltd., mainly for the latter's children-packaged food brand Timios.

Orkla Group, the parent company of MTR Foods, had set up the Rs 50 crore venture fund, christened MTR Seed Fund, last year to invest mainly in food tech-related startups in India over 2017 and 2018. The company had said it takes a stake ranging between 26% and 49% in the start-ups. It will also give the portfolio startups access to MTR Foods research and discussion team, as well as to the company's in-house group of chefs or common services such as branding, legal assistance, treasury, and accounting services.

FirmRoots was started as a solution towards age-appropriate nutrition and has a product range called Timios exclusively for children in the age group of 6 months to 12 years.

Along with the investment, MTR Foods will also mentor the brand on various aspects of the business including marketing, sales and distribution strategy, food safety standards, management of resources among others.

"As the first investment from the seed fund - FirmRoots is a great start, as the company has brought forth a range of snacking products that are apt for the nutritional needs of children – a space that is hitherto untapped. We are pleased to be their partner in their journey," Sanjay Sharma, CEO, MTR Foods, said in a statement.

"Along with the investment from the MTR Seed Fund, we will also value the mentorship and strategic advice given by them. In a short period of time, Timios has managed to become a brand known in the market for its honest, healthy products that are great for the snacking needs of children. The funding would be primarily used for development of our range within the Timios brand and for expansion into other geographies. This investment will surely provide us with the strategic support required to grow further," Aswani Chaitanya, founder, Timios said in a statement.

India’s leading impact investor Aavishkaar led by Aavishkaar-Intellecap Group, is set to invest Rs 35 crore into packaged foods startup Kottaram Agro Foods that sells products under the brand ‘Soulfull’.

The investment will be made through its $200 mn Aavishkaar Bharat Fund with the fund having completed its first close at $95 mn late last year.

The round marks Soulfull’s first institutional fund raising exercise. The Bangalore-based firm brings traditional grains such as millets back to the consumer in modern avatars processing grains like Ragi into healthy breakfast and snack options such as flakes, Ragi bites, muesli and ready-to-cook oat-millet meals.

“There are immense opportunities in the packaged foods industry in India which is growing rapidly at 20-25%. The partnership with Aavishkaar will help Soulfull strengthen its product portfolio, accelerate marketing and expand its distribution reach to over 50,000 retail outlets in the next 3 years,” said Prashant Parameswaran, MD & CEO of Kottaram Agro Foods.

This fund raise will also mark the brand’s foray into the beverages category as the company looks forward to launch ‘Smoothix’, its high protein, health drink made out of 12 natural grains.

The Aavishkaar Bharat Fund is targeting early-to-mid stage investment opportunities in sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, clean technology, education and financial inclusion.

Zappfresh, the high-quality fresh meat brand run by Gurugram-based DSM Fresh Foods Pvt. Ltd has raised funding of INR 20 crore from Amit Burman, Vice Chairman, Dabur India and SIDBI Venture Capital.

The fresh in-flow of capital will help the company in driving business strategy and expanding supply chain as well as geographical reach.

Since inception in 2015, the company managed to successfully break even in the first eight months after raising modest angel funding from renowned individual investors. Under their mentorship and guidance, the Company scaled rapidly over the next 3 years. The firm has built capabilities to service entire Delhi NCR from its state of the art factory in Gurgaon.

Zappfresh is helping Consumers eat better and is determined to revolutionise the loose/wet meat market by bringing standardisation, transparency and quality across the supply chain - How the meat is sold and bought has changed radically in the last 3 years and will transform in the next decade.  While majority organized players are primarily focused on exports, the domestic market is poised at a healthy 15% annual CAGR.

This funding has laid the foundation to validate this category of business to have immense growth potential and the investing parties including Burman will offer guidance on how to scale up to the next level.

“I see a great potential in the ‘e-market for meat’ and Zappfresh has had an impressive growth story. The business model is innovative and the use of technology in the supply chain management has allowed for the possibility of a sustainable scale up capability. I look forward to be part of this venture and its success," shares Burman.

Adding on the same, Sajit Kumar, Sr. VP, SIDBI Venture Capital says, “Investing in a firm many times translates to investing in an idea with the potential to scale up. This in my mind is the story of Zappfresh. The fresh meat industry is highly fragmented and digitization of the market can also improve the value chain operating system of this industry. Zappfresh’s promise to offer a hassle-free meat buying experience of highest quality is unique and has great potential.”

Talking about the latest round of funding, Deepanshu Manchanda, CEO & Co-Founder, Zappfresh adds, “The company would use the funds to hire people in key departments and increase storage capacity. We are very excited to have Mr. Burman and SIDBI Venture Capital on board believing in our business and supporting our expansion plans. This investment will aid our back-end support along with expansion in newer markets after having laid a strong foundation in Delhi-NCR”

Further adding to this, Shruti Gochhwal, Co-Founder, Zappfresh shares, “Our strength has been the control on quality and speed of delivery. The back-end cold supply chain is aided with strong proprietary technology to control inventory. We are a Consumer driven Company and quality and freshness of the product allows us an 85% repeat rate. We are very pleased with this new financial capability and guidance from industry veterans. This will further improve and expand our offering of farm to fork fresh produce and ensure that every household has access to right quality of meats.”

Zappfresh has laid out its plans to leverage the funds raised for strengthening its technology backbone, expanding its team, bolstering the product and enhancing its community. By augmenting its tech infrastructure, Zappfresh will be able to add more innovative and engaging features to its already popular app and website making the online buying experience of meat much better and customer driven.

Zappfresh has also pioneered the concept of ‘Farm to fork’ via the use of Farm-Tech to optimize their time-to-delivery and costs. They are engaged with a number of farms to ensure absolutely fresh and chemical free products. Their technology helps connect farmers, vendors and retail channels. This is done via real time data and inventory tracking, reducing  time-to- consumer from farm.

By controlling the entire lifecycle of the supply chain, Zappfresh genuinely controls and champions the cause of freshness, health and hygiene. The cold supply chain ensures the right temperature between 0-4 degrees delivered within 24 hours.

Amazon is preparing to start selling locally made foodstuff through a wholly owned subsidiary in India from March, eight months after the US behemoth received government approval to invest $500 million in the venture, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The unit can sell only locally produced and packaged food products and will directly compete with Grofers and BigBasket in the online segment. Seattle-based Amazon was the first major company to make a large investment in the food-only retailing sector that India created, allowing 100% foreign ownership in subsidiaries that would sell locally produced food items.

Other global retailers including Walmart have shied away from the segment, arguing that selling only low-margin food items does not make economic sense and such ventures should be allowed to stock non-food items such as shampoos to detergent soaps to make them viable.

Amazon won approval in July to invest $500 million in India over five years to sell third-party and its own private-label food articles, sourced and packaged locally, both online and through brick and-mortar stores. Food is the only segment where it’s allowed to sell directly to consumers. The Indian government sidestepped the intense opposition to foreign investment in multi brand retail in 2016 to create a food retailing segment that it said was aimed at creating jobs and helping farmers.

Amazon currently operates an online marketplace in India and isn’t allowed to sell directly to consumers. It can only act as an intermediary by lending its technological platform to local vendors to sell goods.

Michelin recommended Chef Gautam Chaudhary has acquired Gurugram based food start up, World in a box.

While details of the deals were not revealed, it is supposedly a cash plus equity deal.

“We are delighted by this association, Chef brings with him over 20 years of culinary and management experience” said Nitish Jha, Founder of World in a box, who will now be moving to much larger role of managing operations and marketing at Demiurgic group.

World in a box has done exceptionally well in last two years in gurugram food market. From winning the Prestigious best online food delivery award to the pioneer of “Make your own meal”, which gives a customer the choice of customizing his meals, they have made a niche clientele for themselves.

Demiurgic Hospitality is coming with their second brand “Deseez:, a boutique North Indian delivery kitchen by 3^rd week of September. The group has lot of other interesting plans, details for which were untold right now.” We plan to come up with multiple food brands under our parent umbrella, catering to most of the food universe” said Gautam Chaudhary, founder of Demiurgic group who also specializes in progressive Indian Cuisine. 

Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCBL), the bottling arm of Coca-Cola in India, is setting up two greenfield plants at Ahmedabad and Nellore with an investment of Rs 1,000 crore, a top official confirmed.

HCCBL currently operates 26 bottling plants and covers about 65 per cent of bottling operations for Coca-Cola in the country.

T Krishnakumar, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, HCCBL, said, "We are setting up two greenfield plants at Ahmedabad and Nellore. Sanand (Ahmedabad) will be commissioned this year and Nellore next year."

He further added, "Between the two plants, over the next three years the investment would be at least Rs 1,000 crore. The two plants would add 4-5 per cent of our capacity."

Besides these, the company will invest Rs 750 crore to set up a plant at Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh. It recently laid the foundation stone for the 110-acre plant which is likely to be commissioned by 2018.

Krishnakumar, however, said it would be difficult to estimate the capacity addition from the Madhya Pradesh plant at present.

The greenfield plants would house multiple bottling lines for carbonated beverages such as Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Thums Up and Limca, juices and juice-based drinks like Minute Maid and Maaza, packaged water, as well as Kinley soda.

In 2012, the Atlanta-based beverages major Coca-Cola announced investment of $5 billion along with its partners in India by 2020 on various activities, including setting up of new bottling plants.

Last year, HCCBL had suspended manufacturing at a few of its plants. Krishnakumar said the closure or opening of new plants is to establish a supply chain that meets the demand from consumers.

"Our supply chain was set up in 1997-98, with certain geographical thought process, with a certain portfolio thought process.

"From 1997 to 2016, the whole landscape has changed. We have a different mix, we have a larger portfolio, and we have a larger choice. We constantly need to re-engineer our supply chain to match that demand pattern that we have established," he said.

Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Ltd to invest Rs 750 crore to set up plant in Madhya Pradesh

Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Ltd (HCCBL), the bottling arm of Coca-Cola in India, is going to invest Rs 750 crore to set up a plant at Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh.

The company has announced the groundbreaking of its 110 acre plant, which would house multiple bottling lines for its carbonated beverages such as Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Thums Up and Limca, HCCBL said in a statement.

Besides, the greenfield plant will produce juices and juice-based drinks like Minute Maid and Maaza, packaged water, and soda Kinley will have different wings comprising of production and warehousing building and have a zero discharge plan, it added. T Krishnakumar, CEO and Chairman, HCCBL, said: "Our investment trajectory is very much in line with India's long-term growth strategy of building sustainable, long-term businesses contributing to national and local economy as well as local-social fabric". Madhya Pradesh Industry Minister Rajendra Shukla has laid the foundation stone of the new plant, which is being built in Audyogik Kendra Vikas Nigam (AKVN) Babai Industrial Area, Hoshangabad.

The funding slowdown for Indian internet companies has started taking a toll on cash-hungry food-tech start-ups, forcing to scale down. Start-ups like Eatlo, FreshMenu and others not have money to sustain operations beyond a few months as they are unable to raise fresh rounds of funding, said an investment banker, reported a National Daily.

SpoonJoy, internet-first restaurant has paused operations in Delhi and parts of Bengaluru, which prompted a dig by rival Yumist in a Twitter ad-post that read: "Let us be the spoon to feed you with some real joy."

In the past few years food-tech companies mushroomed rapidly, becoming a much sought-after ecommerce sector while relying heavily on burning through cash to attract customers in a market that quickly got crowded. The change in their fortunes is symptomatic of the looming threat of a growth-stage funding crunch for Indian internet companies.

"Food-tech companies came up together and investors placed bets on different companies. But none of the (venture capital) funds have capacity to fund a round more than Series-A," the investment banker said.

Rahul Harkisanka, founder of Eatlo, said the company has money to sustain for another 9-12 months. Rashmi Daga, founder of FreshMenu, declined to give details on the company's finances. Both Harkisanka and Daga said their companies were in the market to raise fresh financing.

Manish Jethani, founder and chief executive of SpoonJoy, said the online restaurant was modifying its backend operations. "We are still serving some high-density areas. However, other low-volume areas have been put on hold till this change happens," he said.

SpoonJoy, which counts Flipkart Cofounder and CEO Sachin Bansal and SAIF Partners as investors, until recently served 1,500-1,800 orders a day in seven areas in Bengaluru. It has now suspended operations in four areas and merged its seven delivery centres into two. "Most likely, (SpoonJoy is) pivoting to a marketplace model, which they will figure out in the next two weeks," said an investor in the company, requesting anonymity.

Further Jethani says, "All our infrastructure and everything else is intact, but operations have been paused for a while because you cannot make changes at every moving place simultaneously. We are trying to optimise logistics. This is not a change in position or strategy, just a change in the back-end model."

According to start-up data tracker Tracxn, since last year, 31 food-tech start-ups have raised seed or angel funding but only five have been able to raise follow-on or series-A funding from institutional investors. This is forcing many of the other start-ups to reduce their cash burn rate as they re-assess their business models.