Venture capital (VC) firm Hunch Ventures has picked up 50% stake in two companies, which separately hold master franchise rights for US burger chain Wendy’s Co. and fine-dining chain Jamie’s Italian in India, a report said.
The VC firm has invested Rs 100 crore ($13.9 million) to pick up stake in Sierra Nevada Restaurants and Dolomite Restaurants, both owned by International Market Management (IMM), The Economic Times reported. IMM is a London-based firm specialising in setting up franchises of international consumer brands in Asia and India.
Wendy's franchisee, Sierra, was originally a joint venture between IMM of England and Rollatainers, one of India’s largest packaging companies based in Haryana. Rollatainers recently sold its entire 50% stake to IMM.
Wendy’s operates more than 6,600 restaurants globally and had announced plans to open nearly 50 outlets in India by 2019. Only three outlets are operating at the moment in the country.
“We have been looking for the right food businesses that are scalable and we are looking to integrate them with our other assets like tech, media and our hospitality knowledge,” Karanpal Singh, founder of Hunch, said in the report.
Singh was associated with Essential Resources Pvt. Ltd and KJS Concrete before he launched Hunch in 2015. The firm primarily targets companies in the technology and education sectors via the angel round.
Hunch has in the past backed companies such as vClusive (omni-channel marketplace for luxury brands) and SpotDraft (contract automation startup).
