Quick-service restaurant (QSR) chain Wow! Momo Wednesday said it has raised Rs 70 crore (around $8.4 million) in primary capital from early-growth stage fund Z3Partners in its latest funding round.
The company was valued at around Rs 2,500 crore in the funding round, a person aware of the development told VCCircle.
The investment follows Wow! Momo's previous funding of Rs 350 crores (around $42 million), in January. It raised capital from Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the sovereign wealth fund of Malaysia, and existing investor OAKS Asset Management.
Founded in 2008 by Sagar Daryani and Binod Homagai, Wow! Momo currently runs three brands: Wow! Momo, Wow! China and Wow! Chicken. It claims to have a footprint of over 600 outlets across 38 cities. It has also forayed into the FMCG sector along with its QSR vertical. It is planning to open an additional 200 units in the ongoing fiscal year.
Wow! Momo plans to use primary proceeds to fuel the growth and expansion of the QSR brand and help strengthen the distribution foothold and research and development for the FMCG arm, the company said in a release.
Over the years, Wow! Momo singularly focused on building a high-quality food business at scale, fuelled by superior execution expertise, said Rishi Maheshwari, managing partner at Z3Partners, adding, “ This perfectly aligns with our investment thesis of backing scalable businesses with large addressable markets that leverage technology to drive efficiencies across the value chain.”
Wow! Momo has secured several rounds of funding over the years. In 2015, the company received an investment from the Indian Angel Network, followed by Rs 40 crore from Lighthouse Funds in 2017. The momentum continued with Wow! Momo raised Rs 120 crore from US-based private investment firm Tiger Global Management in 2019. Most recently, in September 2021, the company secured $15 million from Singaporean hedge fund Tree Line.
