Early-stage venture capital firm IncuCapital has invested in the F&B chain Steammo, a new brand of Pune-based J&R Hospitality Management Pvt Ltd.
The VC firm has invested Rs 40 lakh in the first tranche and IncuCapital’s Prashant Maharaj will be joining the board of Steammo as part of the deal.
J&R Hospitality is a speciality food company, which offers steamed quick-service food through its branded kiosks. Founded by Ravisha Sirohi and Jabish Gohlyan in 2011, the company plans to open around 20 outlets in the next 6-8 months. It has also gone through product trials for the last couple of months and will use the money raised to scale up its kiosks. These kiosks will operate in the food courts across different cities.
In January this year, IncuCapital invested in Ghaziabad-based Loginworks Softwares, a software development firm started in 2006 by Dheeraj Juneja. Other portfolio companies include EduAlert, PropertyPartners and Reddvise.
The firm has been recently appointed as a strategic advisor by the National Stock Exchange to help build India Venture Board – a platform to support investment opportunities for early-stage companies in India.
Among others significant investments in the FMCG sector, PE firm New Silk Route completed its fourth control transaction last month by picking up a significant stake in Bangalore-based Vasudev Adiga’s Fast Food Ltd, which runs a chain of South Indian restaurants. Also, last August, New York and Mumbai-based India Equity Partners invested Rs 180 crore ($35 million) to buy a majority stake in the restaurant chain Sagar Ratna. Earlier in June 2011, it had put in Rs 160 crore ($35 million) in Sagar Ratna for a minority stake.
