Faasos Kicks Off $100 Mn Mega Round With $16 Mn In First Tranche

Pune-based food maker and delivery app Faasos has raised INR 110.6 Cr ($15.9 Mn) from a bunch of its existing investors in its ongoing Series D round.

According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs filings dated March 11, 2019 accessed by Inc42, Faasos’ parent company Rebel Foods raised funding from Lightbox, Sequoia and Evolvence in this round. Here’s a breakdown:

• Lightbox Ventures II has been issued 323 Series D1 CCPS at INR 14.9 Cr
• Lightbox Expansion Fund has been issued 397 Series D1 CCPS at INR 18.36 Cr
• SCI Investments VI has been issued 1,503 Series D1 CCPS at INR 69.73 Cr
• Sequoia Capital India trust has been issued 11 Series D1 CCPS at INR 50 Lakh
• Evolvence India Fund II has been issued 154 Series D1 CCPS at INR 7.12 Cr

Data intelligence platform Paper.vc first flagged the funding and noted that this was a part of the larger round as the company has named it Series D1.

The larger funding round has been under discussion in the media. In February reports surfaced that Faasos is looking to attract new investors for a $75 Mn-$100 Mn round.

The company is looking to raise funding from investors such as Multiples Alternative Asset Management, Temasek, Goldman Sachs, Falcon Edge and Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board.

The company is reportedly seeking a $400 Mn valuation. The filings showed that the company was last valued at $198.7 Mn (INR 1,416.33 Cr) on September 30, 2018.

Founded by Jaydeep Barman and Kallol Banerjee, Faasos is a multi-brand cloud kitchen operator which sells its products via food delivery companies like Swiggy and Zomato as well as independently through its app.

Faasos has nine in-house brands such as Oven Story, Firangi Bake and Mandarin Oak. The company currently has 175 cloud kitchens across 12 cities in India and receives almost 30K daily orders. In FY18, the company delivered same kitchen sales growth of 75% compared to the industry average of 10% to 15% same-store sales growth.

Faasos has been exploring international growth at the time when industry is coming to terms with the market potential of cloud kitchens. The company’s ideation has attracted bigger players to experiment with the cloud kitchens as well, with Swiggy having launched its cloud kitchen service Access and Zomato’s cloud kitchens continuing to attract customers.

A new entrant in the business came when reports surfaced that hospitality chain OYO may pick up a stake in FreshMenu followed by its own  experiment with cloud kitchens. Also recently, Ola’s Foodpanda cut marketing and customer acquisition costs by two-thirds, to focus on its own private labels and cloud kitchens which include The Great Khichdi Experiment, Lovemade and FLRT brands, and continue to leverage Ola’s base of customers.