Rebel Foods gets $ 25 million from Qatar Investment Authority for restaurant expansion

Copyright © HT Digital Streams Limit all rights reserved. Companies Jaydep Barman, co-founder and CEO of Rebel Foods. (Mint) Summary The company is likely to use the £ 200 crore to open a small number of stores/restaurants in its most important markets, including Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and Delhi. Mumbai: Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) injected $ 25 million into rebels and appreciated the company at $ 1.4 billion. The funds will support the theme-backed company’s expansion of its physical restaurants and food courts, which is a strategic evolution for the Cloud Kitchen giant, three people who are aware of the development said. “The company wants to expand restaurant and cafe business, essentially to expand on an omnichannel way,” said the first of the three people quoted earlier, all of which spoke on the condition of anonymity. Rebel Foods, the operator of Faasos and Belrouz Biryani, refused to comment on the development, while the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Qatar did not immediately respond to Mint’s request for comment. Read more: Quick Trading, Long Refund: Can Zomato and SWIGGY deliver shareholders’ returns? “The company wants to start some important restaurants and food courts where their brands for brands can be sold and eaten. They now want an Omnichannel approach. It will probably challenge any incoming competition from newer players and quick majors,” the second person said. This person added that most of the fresh financing will be used to expand Eatsure, its food court business. The company focuses on food hofformat and recently linked to the fast -cost chain Wendy’s in India. It operates under 10 Eatsure formats in various cities that sell everything, from Biryani to pizza, cakes and coffee, and plans to open more in the coming years. The ministry of a strategy The business is likely to use the £ 200 crore to open a small number of shops/restaurants in its most important markets, including Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and Delhi. “The investment of QIA is an extension to the last round in which themesk pumped into primary capital. The valuation is also the same,” the second person added. In October last year, Temaek Holdings, the investment arm of the government of Singapore, bought 20-25% in the Cloud Kitchen chain for $ 200 million, Mint reports. At the time, existing investors in the business such as Coatue Management, Lightbox and Peak XV sold part of their interest. Later, KKR, the US-based global private equity firm, bought secondary interests that are an unknown amount of these investors. Mint reported in December, referring to an unnamed source that KKR would be ready to buy Rebel Foods shares worth $ 50-75 million from existing investors, which appreciates the beginning of $ 800-860 million. Rebel Foods is also planning an initial public offer in the next 12-18 months, Mint reported. This will be the largest shareholder for non-founder in the business. The founders have about 12% in the Mumbai business and QIA has about 9.9% interest. In October 2021, the company raised $ 175 million in its series F finance round of investors led by Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) at a valuation of $ 1.4 billion. Read more: Consumer brands are planning to write the Influencer Marketing Playbook to push rural sales? Founded in 2011 by Jaydepep Barman and Kallol Banerjee, Rebel Foods operates cloud kitchen brands such as Faasos, Belrouz Biryani, Oven Story Pizza, Mandarin Oak, The Good Bowl, Slay Coffee, Sweet Truth and Wendy’s, apart from Operation Offline. In total, it operates more than 450 kitchens in more than 70 cities. It has a portfolio of more than 45 brands in various countries, including India, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. The company had reduced its losses to £ 378 crore from a net loss of £ 657 crore the year before, driven by better margins and scale benefits in its portfolio, Mint reported in August. Operations revenue had a modest increase up to £ 1,420 crore in FY24, higher than 1.195 crore the previous year, while expenses were flat at £ 1,857 crore, the report states. Catch all the corporate news and updates on live currency. Download the Mint News app to get daily market updates and live business news. More Topics #Investment Mint Specials