Cloud kitchen platform Faasos raises venture debt

Rebel Foods, an internet kitchen platform that owns and operates a number of brands including Faasos and Behrouz Biryani, has raised Rs 30 crore ($4.2 million) from venture debt firm Alteria Capital.

According to the company’s latest filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, it raised the funding through non-convertible debentures.

The venture financing was done alongside its last fundraising when it secured $30 million in October last year, Faasos co-founder and chief executive Jaydeep Barman told TechCircle. 

The round saw participation of a number of marquee venture capital funds including Russia’s Sistema Asia Fund Advisors, Evolvence India Fund, Lightbox, Sequoia Capital and Russian investment firm Ru-Net. He confirmed the rumoured upcoming large fundraising round will conclude by end of this quarter. 

The development was first reported by The Economic Times citing data research platform Paper.vc.

Faasos was earlier owned by Faasos Food Services Pvt. Ltd. The company recently rebranded its parent entity to Rebel Foods to distinguish its wraps-and-meals brand Faasos as a separate brand.

Rebel Foods, which has gradually pivoted from a quick service restaurant (QSR) chain to a cloud kitchen model, was founded by Barman in 2004 with Kallol Banerjee. Both Barman and Kallol are engineers and studied management at the Indian Institute of Management-Lucknow and INSEAD business school in France, respectively.

Since the pivot, the company has launched seven brands under different categories such as biryani, meals, pizza and dessert. It runs about 1,100 individual internet restaurants (with 176 kitchens) across 15 Indian cities. A cloud kitchen accepts only online orders and offers no dine-in facility.

The company managed to grow its revenue by 67% in the financial year 2017-18 while narrowing its loss for the second straight year. Net sales of Pune-based Rebel Foods jumped to Rs 149 crore in 2017-18 from Rs 89 crore in the previous year. Net loss shrank to Rs 74 crore from Rs 82 crore.

Alteria Capital

The venture debt firm was founded in 2017 by Vinod Murali and Ajay Hattangdi, who were former top executives at venture debt provider InnoVen Capital India Pvt. Ltd.

Alteria Capital had marked the first close of its debut fund with commitments of Rs 356 crore ($54.76 million) in March last year.

The fund, which seeks to raise Rs 1,000 crore, has crossed Rs 625 crore in commitments. This includes anchor investments from IndusInd Bank and Small Industries Development Bank of India.

It has struck more than 10 deals. The venture debt firm had made its first investment in ready-to-cook food startup Fingerlix. It followed this up with investments in Sachin Tendulkar-backed celebrity fashion firm Universal Sportsbiz Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai-based ed-tech startup Toppr Technologies Pvt Ltd, and home healthcare services Portea.