Specialty food ingredients maker Veeba Food Services Pvt. Ltd has raised over $6 million (Rs 40 crore) in its Series C round of funding led by existing investor Verlinvest, a private Belgian family investment company.
Verlinvest put in $4 million this time. Veeba’s two other investors – Samaa Capital and DSG Consumer Partner—contributed the rest of the money, Mint reported.
The round also saw participation of consumer-focussed venture capital firm Sixth Sense Ventures. SSV bought shares worth $2 million from another existing shareholder in the company.
DSGCP made its investment through its newly launched vehicle DSG Tyeb, which is meant for making follow-on investments in its portfolio companies.
Email queries sent to Veeba, Verlinvest, DSGCP, Samaa Capital and Sixth Sense Ventures didn’t elicit any response till the time of filing of this report.
The firm will mainly use the capital to boost its distribution channels across the country. Besides metros, the company has a presence in cities such as Ludhiana and Vellore.
Veeba had raised similar round in its Series B round last year from Samaa Capital and Verlinvest.
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.
Other deals
Several investors have backed companies focused on ready-to-cook meals in the recent past. In August, American food company Mars Inc, best known for its confectionery and pet food business, offered to buy the shares held by public shareholders in Tasty Bite Eatables Ltd, which mainly exports its ready-to-heat food products.
Ready-to-cook packaged food company iD Fresh Food (India) Pvt. Ltd was raising its Series B round of funding to drive its expansion plans in India and abroad.
Prior to that, Mumbai-based packaged food startup Yumlane raised nearly Rs 6.6 crore in a seed round of funding led by Flipkart co-founder and CEO Binny Bansal.
In May, Bengaluru-based packaged foods company Maiyas Beverages and Foods Pvt. Ltd raised Rs 200 crore from investors led by private equity firm Peepul Capital. The same month, Chennai's Mambalam Iyers Food Products Pvt. Ltd raised its Series A round of funding.
