Specialty food ingredients maker Veeba Food Services Pvt. Ltd said on Friday it has raised $6 million (around Rs 40 crore) in its Series B funding round led by its existing investor Saama Capital and new investor Verlinvest, a private Belgian family investment company.
Veeba will use the funds to strengthen its position in the institutional segment and build out distribution and product portfolio for the retail segment, said the company in a statement.
Veeba was spun out as a separate business in 2013 from the founder Viraj Bahl’s family enterprise Fun Foods, which was sold to German group Oetker. The company manufacturers sauces and dressings and has a customer base including global brands in quick service restaurants (QSR) and coffee bar chains such as KFC, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Taco Bell and Starbucks.
Veeba had raised its seed round in 2013 from venture capital fund DSG Consumer Partners and Yukti. In June 2015, it raised $6 million in Series A funding from DSG Consumer Partners and Saama Capital.
For Verlinvest, this is a rare venture stage investment as it typically looks at larger deals in the $50-$100 million range in India and globally, said Nicholas Cator, executive director of Verlinvest.
"...we look forward to supporting them for many years financially and strategically to help them build the leading brand in the specialty food sector in India,†he added.
Verlinvest currently has over €1.4 billion of assets under management and its Indian portfolio includes companies such as Sula Wines, Future Consumer Enterprises, Future Retail, Burger King India and Drums Food.
Verlinvest is also an anchor investor in DSG Consumer Partners' second fund. DSG Consumer Partners currently has $80 million under management.
"Having Verlinvest join us in this round of funding brings a global investor with tremendous experience in building consumer brands. Veeba is now well placed to consolidate the position in the institutional market," said Deepak Shahdadpuri, managing director, DSG Consumer Partners.
Saama Capital, which began in 2006 as part of SVB Financial Group, was spun out as an independent firm in 2012 and has backed diverse set of companies including Sula Wines, Shaadi, Snapdeal, iYogi, Prizm Payments, One97 Communications, Bluestone, Naaptol, Genesis Colors, Applabs, Shriram EPC and SKS Microfinance.
Veeba's founder Viraj Bahl also announced that Rajiv Wahi, former president of Cadbury Pacific, has recently joined the board of directors of the company.
Like this report? Sign up for our daily newsletter to get our top reports.
