Rebel Foods acquires majority stake in luxury chocolate brand SMOOR

The luxury chocolate seller will continue to build its omnichannel distribution strategy by expanding its physical customer experience centers across Tier 1 cities in India like Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, and Chennai, among others. It will also keep accelerating its online presence across digital platforms.

Rebel Foods, which operates a network of cloud kitchen brands such as Behrouz Biryani, Mandarin Oak, Ovenstory Pizza, and Faasos said on April 7 that it has picked up a majority stake in luxury chocolate brand SMOOR.

While it did not disclose the quantum of investment, the deal values SMOOR at over $50 million.  This comes after Rebel Foods said it plans to invest $150 million to acquire and scale new food brands in India and globally.

Raghav Joshi, Co-founder, Rebel Foods said, “We are excited about adding SMOOR to our catalogue of brands with its leadership in high-quality chocolates and desserts offerings. This investment gives us further confidence that we have been able to consistently choose outstanding brands.”

With the investment from Rebel Foods, SMOOR hopes to witness thrice as much growth in the financial year 2022-23.

Vimal Sharma, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SMOOR, said, “With Rebel Foods’ investment, we are set to make deeper inroads into the global market, introducing new and exciting confectionaries in multiple, accessible formats. We look forward to the growth that will unfold on the back of this development.”

The luxury chocolate seller will continue to build its omnichannel distribution strategy by expanding its physical customer experience centres across Tier 1 cities in India like Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, and Chennai, among others. It will also keep accelerating its online presence across digital platforms.

The virtual kitchen company, Rebel Foods, turned unicorn in October 2021 after raising $175 million in a Series F funding round.  It is now looking to scale up existing and new partnerships with more than 40 Indian and international brands in a Thrasio-like model for food.

Joshi added, “Being an early adopter of the Thrasio model in food in India, we have disrupted 500 years old industry of the traditional restaurant business, by building a full-stack technology-enabled platform - Rebel Operating System. Our focus will continue to be on bringing great quality brands to every neighbourhood across food missions.”

The model refers to the US-based Thrasio which buys the hottest up-and-coming brands that sell on Amazon and helps them scale up by providing marketing and technological chops.

Founded in 2011 by Jaydeep Barman and Kallol Banerjee, Rebel Foods has over 450+ kitchens across 70+ cities. Currently, the company operates 45+ brands across 10 countries - India, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah), the United Kingdom, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Bangladesh.

Through Rebel Launcher, the company’s investment portfolio, it has launched over 25 brands and aims to add 40 to 50 food categories, prioritising missions like premium North Indian, South Indian, Indian Sweets, and Sandwiches, among others in the coming year.