Cloud Kitchen Startup Curefoods Acquires Pizza Brand Yumlane

Cloud kitchen startup Curefoods has acquired foodtech startup Yumlane for an undisclosed amount. As a part of this acquisition, Yumlane will leverage the reach of Curefoods to boost its proprietary pizza technology. 

Founded in 2016 by Hitesh Ahuja, Rueben Ghosh and Rahul Kumar, Yumlane has developed a proprietary technology stack for Pizza and launched cloud kitchen brand — Yumlane Pizza and B2B business.

The startup claims to have expanded its reach across 15 cities in India and counts names like Curefoods, Barbeque Nation, Frozen Bottle, and 7-11 as its clients. It has secured investments from notable investors including Binny Bansal, Anupam Mittal, Orios Ventures, RB Investments.

Commenting on the acquisition, Gokul Kandhi, chief business officer, CureFoods, said, “Their extensive B2B client network and their positioning as a value leader in the pizza category align strategically with our brand portfolio. we are excited to harness Yumlane’s potential as we work toward enhancing the pizza category as a whole.”

Curefoods has been associated with Yumlane since 2021 when it took over Yumlane Pizza cloud kitchen franchise rights for the South India market followed by a 10% stake in the business in 2022.

Curefoods was launched in 2020 by Ankit Nagori. It houses brands like EatFit, CakeZone, Nomad Pizza, Sharief Bhai Biryani and Frozen Bottle among others. The startup claims to operate over 200 cloud kitchens and offline stores, offering over 10 cuisines, across 15 cities in India.

Curefoods seems to be on an expansion spree in the food sector. In July, it made a strategic investment in Hyderabad-based millet startup Millet Express to help it expand and reach a wider audience for millet-based products. 

This investment was followed by a $37 Mn funding round led by Binny Bansal’s fund Three State Ventures. Back then, Curefoods said that it would use the funds to expand its geographical reach and diversify its brands into offline formats from the current cloud kitchen business model.

In the Indian cloud kitchen space, it competes directly with Rebel Foods, which entered the Saudi Arabian market in July.