Rebel Foods Raises INR 35 Cr Debt Funding From Alteria To Expand Overseas

Mumbai-based leading venture capital fund Alteria Capital has made another debt fund worth INR 35 Cr in Rebel Foods, the cloud kitchen startup that runs Faasos, Mandarin Oak, The Good Bowl and other brands. This is the third transaction that Alteria Capital has made in Rebel Foods taking its aggregate debt funding for Rebel to INR 85 Cr.

Commenting on the fund utilisation, Vinod Murali, managing partner of Alteria Capital Advisors told Inc42, “The fund will go into cloud kitchens. Rebel Foods has also announced plans to expand business overseas, preferably in South Asia and parts of Europe.”

Rebel Foods was founded by Jaydeep Barman and Kallol Banerjee in 2010. Today, it runs around 325 cloud kitchens and has also planned to invest in automation and robotics, which will help reduce manual labour in its kitchens. Rebel Foods recently raised equity financing of $125 Mn led by Coatue and Goldman Sachs which valued the company at $500 Mn.

What made Alteria follow on with another debt funding round for Rebel Foods? Murali responded,  “I have known Jaydeep for many years now and have seen the startup growing from a single brand to multi-brand. The company has been growing steadily and I think, Jaydeep is among the few who have understood the Indian consumers very well.”

The overseas strategy is well-timed as it allows for better efficiency and the business has a robust Indian base, he added. “Alteria believes in doubling down strongly with our founders and we are excited to work with Rebel with more structured financing solutions as they become one of the largest global food brand companies,” added Murali.

Launched in March 2018 with a corpus of INR 962 Cr, Alteria Capital has so far made 43 transactions in 25 startups. It provides venture debt to high growth, innovative Indian startups with a cheque size range of INR 2 Cr – INR 100 Cr. In its portfolio are Rebel Foods, Lendingkart, Zestmoney, Portea, Toppr Technologies Ltd, Spinny, Stanza Living, Raw Pressery, Vogo, Dunzo, Vinculum, Mfine, Generico, Loadshare, LBB, Maverix, Country Delight and Universal Sportsbiz Pvt Ltd (Wrogn, Imara & Ms. Taken brands).

Barman said that venture debt raised from Alteria helped keep the cost of capital lower than equity raise. “It has given us significantly longer runway on our equity funding.”

Catering to 35 cities in India, Rebel Foods has a huge presence across the leading food delivery platforms — Zomato and Swiggy — and it generates over 50% of its demand from these food ordering platforms.