Yu, an instant meal bowl brand, on Thursday said it has raised $1 million (Rs 7.48 crore) as part of its pre-Series A funding round.
The funding was raised from Manish Choksi and Varun Vakil, part of the Asian Paints promoter group, and Lalvani family of the UK based food and hospitality group, said Yu in a statement.
Nikhil Srivastava, head of India at PAG private equity and Vishal Sampat, founder, Convonix, among others, also contributed to the funding round, it added.
Yu, which is operated by Ikayu Foodlabs Pvt. Ltd, currently has six stock keeping units (SKUs) across two product categories - wholesome pasta bowls and wholesome oat bowls. The company claims that its products does not contain preservatives, additives, artificial flavourings or colours as they are made using highly advanced lyophilization technology, chef-curated recipes and 100% natural ingredients. All of its products are prepared and packaged in its 12,000 square feet food-lab in Gurgaon.
Varun Kapur, cofounder and executive director, Yu, said the startup will use the fresh capital to ramp up its production capacity to over 5 lakh meal bowls per month while expanding its distribution network to key markets across India.
Bharat Bhalla, cofounder and executive Director, Yu, said that the startup is adopting an omnichannel sales strategy and in due course will be present in offline and online stores pan-India. The brand aims to establish an offline presence in Mumbai initially followed by all other metro cities in 9-12 months.
Yu founders had incubated Ikayu Foodlabs as part of 3015 Venture Studio, their entrepreneurship hub that conceives, funds, launches consumer businesses.
