Keventer Could Possibly Set up Unit in Assam
Food and Beverage Company Keventer is exploring the prospect of setting up a unit in Assam to manufacture some of its products. The company is in talks with the state government and the concrete plans for the setting up of the manufacturing unit would bear clarity in 2019. The company already has 12 manufacturing units across the country.
Keventer products include ice-cream, UHT milk, and frozen products. The company has also launched UHT milk in the Northeast and is eyeing 25 percent of the market share in that region. The company sees immense potential in UHT milk business in the future as the UHT milk market is predicted to cross Rs.10, 000 crore by 2023. The unit at Barasat on the outskirts of Kolkata has the capacity to process around two lakh units of milk per day. Keventer sources milk from 20,000 farmers who live in a radius of 100 km from the Barasat facility.
Guiltfree Industries, Haldiram, and MTR Submit Bids to Resurrect Maiyas
Guiltfree Industries, Haldiram and MTR Foods are among the six contenders who have submitted bids to resurrect Maiyas Beverages and Foods, which was a venture of pioneering food entrepreneur Sadananda Maiya. The other contenders are Peepul capital, Sadananda Maiya in his personal capacity and Akashika Foods. It is an irony of fate for MTR as the brand was earlier owned by them and was sold off to a Norwegian food company called Orkla in 2007. All the contenders have submitted their applications to the Interim Resolution Professional and will need to submit their revival plan in January.
The National Company Law Tribunal asked for bids after Maiyas Beverages showed an inability to raise enough funds to continue operations. Presently the company owns 40 percent of the company while the rest is held equally between private equity firms Peepul Capital and Ascent Capital. The crisis has come about because of differences between the Maiya family and the Public Equity firms about how to take the business forward. Maiyas’ products include snacks, sweets, instant mixes, spices, ready-to-eat, and frozen foods.
Swiggy Raises US$ 1 Billion from Venture Funds
Leading food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy has raised US $1 billion (Rs.7,000 crore) venture funds from existing investors led by Naspers and includesDST Global, Meituan Dianping and Coatue Management. The funding round also included the participation of new investors Tencent, Hillhouse Capital, and Wellington Management Co. Swiggy will use the funds to bring more quality food brands closer to consumers and address gaps in supply through delivery-only kitchens. They will also hire talent and strengthen the existing technology. Swiggy would like to hire talent for machine learning and engineering roles across mid and senior levels, as well as strengthen its technology backbone. The company will focus on building a next-generation Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven platform for hyper-local discovery and on-demand delivery
Founded in 2014, Swiggy claims to have 50,000 restaurant partners across 50 cities, including New Delhi, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata and Pune and receives about 25 million food orders a month. The company has over 4,000 employees and have reported operating revenues of Rs.442-crore for fiscal 2017-18.
TripXOXO Planning Pan-India Home Dining Experience
TripXOXO, a discovery platform for activities and experiences, has tied-up with over 400 hosts from places such as Mumbai, Pune, Kolhapur, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Assam, Chennai and Hyderabad to give customers a unique experience of home dining. Home dining is becoming one of the interesting and booming businesses in the country. The company associates with homemakers across the country to offer unique and traditional culinary experience.
A trip seems incomplete if you don’t get a chance to feast on local cuisines and TripXOXO provides the opportunity for travellers to relish some amazing local dishes. The home-dining experience is a great way for travellers to indulge in a traditional and regional meal. It is a great option for people who want to eat home-cooked food even if they are away from home. Home dining experience not only gives them a chance to savour homemade delicacies but a chance to meet and interact with interesting people as well. The visitors/ travellers can select their choice of food for personalized culinary options, like Maharashtrian, Gujarati, Bengali, Sindhi, Assamese, Bohri and South Indian, to name a few
Prime Venture Partners invests Rs.6 Crore in FoodyBuddy
Prime Venture Partners has invested Rs.6 crore in FoodyBuddy, a platform that enables consumers to sell home-cooked food.FoodyBuddy plans to use the funds from the pre-series A round to expand into new geographies, and build on the existing network in Bengaluru. The company is currently operational in Bengaluru but plans to expand to five other cities in the next 12 months.
The platform brings together home chefs and consumers in the same neighbourhood. Residents of over 100 apartment communities in Bengaluru are using the platform that has sold more than 2, 50,000 meals. FoodyBuddy began operations in 2017 and today close to 20,000 households use FoodyBuddy and more than 1,000 people are selling. The aim is to foster this by providing both sellers and buyers with a network through which they can address their requirements.
Gurgaon Start-up Fric Bergen Raises Undisclosed Amount of Seed Funding
Fric Bergen, which is a self-funded startup based in Gurgaon has successfully raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Kishore Ganji, chief executive officer, Astir IT Solutions; Apurva Salarpuria, director, Salarpuria Group; Rushi Ajmera of Ajmera Realty, Pratul Dalal, executive director, Western Press, and Pranay Desai, director, CD Equisearch. Fric Bergen deals in dips and sauces and they will use the funding to strengthen their position in the distribution segment to achieve a more extensive reach in the retail market and also building a pathway to HoReCa (hotel, restaurant, and catering) industries for business. They also plan to make available variants of dressings, dips and mayonnaise sauces to every household in convenient-to-use sachets at just Rs.10 and bridge the gap between the local players and international brands.
Within 18 months of commencing operations, Fric Bergen has managed to establish a good foothold in the retail market, with over 10,000 outlets in North India. It has expanded to over 60 cities across the country. They now intend to expand their capabilities in innovative product offerings which are based on consumer preferences. They have introduced new flavours such as tandoori mayonnaise and pizza and pasta sauces to cater to the needs of a diversified modern customer base and will continue to focus on diversifying their product portfolio. Their main objective is to reach Indian masses through various online platforms, such as Amazon, and keep prices affordable.
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