Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal's fund Three State Ventures has pumped in an additional Rs 200 crores in Accel-backed cloud kitchen startup Curefoods taking the total funds invested to Rs 500 crores at a post-money valuation of around Rs 3,000 crores (around $375 million), sources told Moneycontrol.
The firm will likely utilise the funding towards expanding its offline business including some of its popular brands like Nomad Pizza and Sharief Bhai Biryani. Curefoods also houses brands like Frozen Bottle. EatFit and CakeZone.
Bansal's decision to double down on this investment underscores the strong appetite that consumer internet brands are seeing in an otherwise subdued funding scene.
Also Read: Investors continue to make a beeline for consumer internet start-ups
Binny Bansal’s additional funds are part of the firm’s ongoing round it started in April of 2023 where it raised Rs 300 crore (about $37 million) Three State Ventures, IronPillar and others.
The funding consisted of primary and secondary equity and debt, with Three State Ventures leading the round with a cheque of Rs 240 crore, Curefoods said in a statement on April 6, 2023.
Curefoods and Three State Ventures did not comment on the new developments.
Founded in 2016 by Ankit Nagori, a former Flipkart executive, the Bengaluru-based startup competes with firms like Rebel Foods, Biryani by Kilo, and EatClub (formerly Box8), which are at the forefront of this industry and are building house of food brands.
These cloud kitchens acquire food brands and help them scale with technology, digital marketing and sales chips to turbocharge growth.
Curefoods closed its Series C round of $50 million from a mix of new and existing investors led by Winter Capital. In early 2022, the startup was valued at around $250 million.
The firm has also been making inorganic expansion through acquisitions. In 2023, the firm acquired the food discovery platform Hogr. Similarly, in October, Curefoods closed the acquisition of foodtech company Yumlane and its proprietary technology.
Also Read: Curefoods acquires Binny Bansal-backed Yumlane for undisclosed amount
As per filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), Curefoods reported a 400% jump in its operating revenue to Rs 382 crore for FY23. However, the firm’s losses came at Rs 342 crore in FY23.
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