Mumbai-based direct-to-consumer (D2C) bakery brand The Baker’s Dozen on Wednesday said it has secured $5 million (around Rs 39 crore) in a pre-Series A round in a mix of debt and equity, led by Fireside Ventures.
The capital will be used for product innovation, team building, brand marketing, distribution expansion and in ramping up its tech play.
The Baker’s Dozen (TBD) was founded in 2013 by husband-wife duo Sneh Jain and Aditi Handa with an aim to bake and sell sourdough. The brand, since then, has now expanded to selling sponge cakes, artisan breads, cookies, pre-mixes, butters, crackers, lavash and breadsticks.
The startup aims to log 5 times growth in the next two years and has been expanding its distribution footprint across India through more than 100 own stores and 1,000 retail touchpoints across 25 cities.
“Having sold over a million sourdoughs already, our portfolio of handcrafted breads, tea-time cakes, cookies, snacks and premixes fill a gap for our customers who find our brand aspirational yet accessible. With a focus on product and shelf-life innovation, we are able to drive rapid growth by creating products that can easily adapt to their rapidly changing lifestyles and demands,” said Aditi Handa, co-founder, The Baker’s Dozen.
Launched in 2017, Fireside Ventures is an early-stage venture fund, managing assets under management (AUM) worth $170 million across digital-first consumer brands in sectors such as health and wellness, food and beverages, beauty and personal care, nutraceuticals, lifestyle and home products, among others.
VCCircle in April reported that the VC fund is intending to raise around $150-200 million for its third vehicle and has already applied with markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for the fund.
Kanwaljit Singh, founder and managing partner at Fireside Ventures, told VCCircle that global markets are becoming relevant expansion areas for Indian brands with digital and logistics infrastructure maturing.
“Our decision to invest in The Baker’s Dozen is backed by our thesis of looking for innovative white spaces within the D2C products space. TBD brings in the packaged version of artisanal bakery products which is addressing a huge market backed by technology innovations around processing and packaging at the backend,” said Prayag Mohanty, principal, Fireside Ventures.
