Curefoods Marks Strategic Investment In Millet Express

Cloud kitchen startup Curefoods has made a strategic investment in Hyderabad-based millet startup Millet Express.

Founded in 2020, Millet Express offers Millet-based South Indian cuisine with all seven types of millet – including breakfast options and rice bowls. For North Indian cuisine, the startup has developed parathas, kichidis and rotis.

The Hyderabad-based startup plans to use the investment to expand, allowing the brand to reach a wider audience for millet-based products. Millet Express also aims to leverage Curefoods to enhance its operations and expand its market presence. 

With the investment, the cloud kitchen startup plans to expand the Millet Express offerings to both its online and offline fronts. “This collaboration between Curefoods and Millet Express allows both brands to capitalise on their respective strengths, creating a mutually beneficial partnership,” said Curefoods in a press statement.

Gokul Kandhi, CEO of Curefoods, added, “The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets (IYM2023) and this sector is expected to gain significant traction and support that will further enhance the growth potential of Millet Express.”

Curefoods, founded in 2020 by Ankit Nagori, claims to run more than seven food factories and 150+ multi-brand cloud kitchens to service 200+ locations in 15 cities. The startup houses brands such as CakeZone, Nomad Pizza, Frozen Bottle and Sharief Bhai Biryani, among others.

The investment in Millet Express comes two months after Curefoods raised INR 300 Cr (around $37 Mn) in a funding round led by Binny Bansal’s fund Three State Ventures, which invested INR 240 Cr during the fundraise. The funding round consisted of a mix of primary and secondary equity and debt.

The startup said it would deploy the funding to expand its geographical reach and diversify its brands into offline formats from the current cloud kitchen business model.

Before the investment in Millet Express, the cloud kitchen startup picked up a majority stake in the milkshake brand Frozen Bottle in March 2022. In January 2021, it picked up five F&B brands separately. In October 2021, it acquired seven more cloud kitchen brands.

In the cloud kitchen segment, Curefoods competes with unicorn Rebel Foods, which operates more than 450 cloud kitchens nationwide.

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