?Faasos raises Rs.41.44 crore funds from existing investors

Faasos, the flagship wrap brand under Rebel Foods, elevates its offerings with a fresh Shawarma line.

Brand presence is over 75 cities across 335+ locations, Faasos' Shawarma transcends food, becoming a nationwide favorite.

This launch solidifies Faasos as a key player in the Shawarma market, presenting eight variants ranging from Classic Peppy Chicken to Special Smoky Chicken and Sizzled Falafel, among others.

“At Faasos, we take pride in our commitment to innovation and exceeding expectations. We understand that indulging in the same meals over and over can be boring. With this new range of Shawarmas, especially with the New Year celebrations approaching, we are elevating this festive spirit with more delightful food options to choose from. This launch also marks another milestone in the brand’s journey to reach new customers with unparalleled culinary experiences, making every meal memorable.” said Pragati Dalal, Vice President of Marketing at Rebel Foods.

During the Shawarma Fest, Faasos plans to interact with customers through various activities.

In significant urban areas, creators working with Faasos will dress up as Arab sheikhs, bringing liveliness to public spaces and turning them into engaging hubs.

This approach aims to merge entertainment with informative sessions, using these interactions as chances to spread happiness.

The new Shawarmas are available for ordering through the Faasos app, EatSure app and website, as well as various other food delivery platforms.

Mumbai-based cloud kitchen brand Rebel Foods has fired close to 2 per cent of its overall workforce.

Rebel operate brands like Behrouz Biryani, Faasos, Oven Story Pizza and has also got restaurants like Wendy’s, Naturals, Zomoz and Mad Over Donuts to name a few as Rebel Launcher program on its platform to expand their business.

Rebel which has become a global fame when it comes to cloud kitchen segment has close to 2,500 employees under its name.

“The layoffs have happened due to a 'realignment in the organisation. Any news heard is on account of annual performance evaluation and realigning the organisation to our priorities for future goals. The impacted number is less than 2 per cent of our organisational strength," shared a company spokesperson.

Founded in 2011 as Faasos, it operate over 450 kitchen locations and over 4,000 internet restaurants across 70 cities in 10 countries.

Rebel Foods has secured Rs 35 crore in debt from venture debt fund Alteria Capital. It is best known for its cloud-kitchen brands Faasos and Behrouz Biryani.

Jaydeep Barman, CEO of Rebel Foods, said, “Alteria has been a tremendous partner in our journey of disrupting F&B on a global scale. Much of our investments go into building state-of-the-art automated kitchens and the venture debt raised by us from Alteria helped us keep our cost of capital lower than equity raise. It has given us a significantly longer runway on our equity funding.”

This investment is done by Alteria from its Rs 960 crore first fund. The company’s portfolio includes scooter rental startup Vogo, generic drugs retailer Generico and hyperlocal on-demand delivery firm Dunzo, among others.

Vinod Murali, Managing Partner at Alteria, stated, “Having known Jaydeep and the team at Rebel for many years now, we have witnessed the phenomenal growth as well as successful diversification of brands adopted by the company. The overseas strategy is well-timed as it allows for better efficiency and the business has a robust Indian base.”

Presently, Rebel is valued at about $500 million, having last raised $120 million in equity in 2019. The firm’s investors include hedge fund Coatue Management, Goldman Sachs and Sequoia Capital, among others.

Business Growth

Founded by Jaydeep Barman and Kallol Bannerjee in 2004, Rebel Foods began operations as a quick-service restaurant chain before pivoting to an online kitchen model. Previously known as Faasos Food Services Pvt Ltd, it rebranded itself to Rebel Foods in 2018.

In India, Rebel Foods runs 325 internet kitchens. It has recently expanded abroad, with operations in Indonesia, Dubai and the UK.

The company operates brands that serve cuisines like biryani, meals, pizzas and desserts. Rebel Foods has a presence in at least 15 Indian cities.

Rebel Foods, which owns and operates multi-brand cloud kitchen brands, has over doubled its topline in the financial year 2018-19, however, its losses widen, as the Mumbai-based company continues to focus on expanding its reach and broadens its offering.

The company reported a net loss of Rs 130.64 crore for the year ended March 31, 2019, up from a net loss of Rs 74.44 crore in fiscal 2018. Rebel Foods owns and operates an estimated 2,100 internet restaurants and 275 cloud kitchens spread across three countries

Rebel Foods’ other expenses, including marketing and promotional spends, among other items, increased 147% to Rs 191.81 crore, as it started expanding at a rapid pace across South-East Asia and the Middle-East, particularly in Indonesia and Dubai.

Rebel Foods looked to invest $30-$40 million in infrastructure, expansion and automation. It also focused on doubling down its nine in-house brands, including Faasos, Behrouz Biriyani, Oven Story, Firangi Bake and Mandarin Oak, among others.

The company is competing with the likes of Naspers-backed Swiggy and Zomato, both of which also operate their own cloud kitchen infrastructure.

Travis Kalanick, Co-Founder of Uber, is likely to pick up a minority stake in homegrown, multi-brand cloud kitchen player Rebel Foods, previously known as Faasos.

Kalanick will make the investment in Rebel Foods through its real estate company City Storage Systems, which he took over after he was ousted as the CEO of the ride-hailing major in 2017.

Founded by Jaydeep Barman and Kallol Banerjee, Rebel Foods is operating multiple quick-service food brands independently, facilitating deliveries through its app or through the likes of Zomato and Swiggy. The Pune-based company has nine in-house brands including Faasos, Oven Story, Firangi Bake, Behrouz Biryani, and Mandarin Oak.

A person aware of the matter said, “It’s a small cheque from Kalanick, which is part of the $125-million financing round for Rebel.”

Rebel Foods has more than 175 cloud kitchens across 12 cities in India. It claims to receive almost 30K orders a day. 

Last month, the company had raised $125 million led by US-based hedge fund Coatue Management. It has also received investment from Indonesia’s Go-Jek, one of the biggest startups in Southeast Asia, through its investment arm Go Ventures.

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Rebel Foods, the cloud kitchen startup, has raised $125 million in the ongoing Series D round from Coatue Management, Goldman Sachs, Indonesia’s Go-Jek, and others. Post this round, the Mumbai-based company’s valuation is said to be $525 million.

Started out as a quick-service restaurant (QSR), the company is now a multi-brand cloud kitchen model. It has established brands such as Faasos, Oven Story, Firangi Bake, Mandarin Oak, Kettle & Eggs, and Behrouz under Rebel Foods.

Rebel Foods is now planning to expand its footprint into Southeast Asia and the Middle East. 

Last month, Go-Jek, Southeast Asia’s leading ride-hailing major, also infused $5 million in Faasos through its venture capital arm Go Ventures. With this agreement, Rebel and Go-Jek is looking to set up 100 Indonesian cloud kitchens that will process biryani, pizza, Chinese food, and locally popular dishes like nasi goreng.

Rebel is further eyeing to launch 20 kitchens in the UAE by year-end.

Currently, the firm is operating a network of 235 cloud kitchens in 20 Indian cities with an order volume of two million per month. Rebel has also introduced 1,600 internet restaurants in India across 11 brands. 

Founded by Jaydeep Barman and Kallol Banerjee in 2010, the company was earlier known as Faasos Food Services Pvt Ltd. It rebranded its parent entity to Rebel Foods Pvt Ltd in 2018.

Indonesian ride-hailing giant Go-Jek’s investment arm, Go-Ventures has invested $5 million in Indian cloud kitchen company Rebel Food’s ongoing series D round.

Rebel Foods owns an array of cloud kitchen brands like Faasos, Oven Story, Lunch Box, Behrouz, and The Good Bowl. 

The company has raised $20.9 million in its ongoing Series D round so far. The round has seen the participation of its existing investors like Lightbox, Sequoia and Evolvence. 

In March, Rebel Foods raised around Rs 110 crore as a part of its Series D1 round from its existing investors. The company said that the fresh capital will be used to expand its network of kitchens from 200 to 500.

The Pune-based cloud kitchen platform will also step up its global expansion by foraying into Dubai and Indonesia. In addition to this, the company further looks to invest in automation and robotics for reducing manual labour in its kitchens.

Food-on-demand service Faasos has raised Rs 110 crore funding from existing investors Sequoia Capital India, Lightbox Ventures and Evolvence India as part of its Series-D1round.

The investment comes ahead of a $75-100-million funding round for which Rebel Foods ( Faasos) has held talks with investors such as Multiples Alternative Asset Management, Temasek, Goldman Sachs, Falcon Edge and Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, as ET had reported in February.

Jaydeep Barman, Chief Executive Officer of Rebel Foods, said, "Rebel Foods was world’s largest delivery-only or internet restaurant company. Its strategy is to run multiple restaurants from the same cloud kitchen. The company that also owns brands such as Berhouz Biryani, OvenStory currently operates 176 cloud kitchens in 15 cities."

"Once a kitchen is built, we can continuously build multiple restaurant brands from that location. In the past 24 months, we have incubated and scaled seven restaurant brands to more than 100 locations, without incurring any additional expense," Barman added.

The new round is expected to value the company at $400 million. “Rebel Foods seems to have stitched together a much larger round at a higher valuation in which existing investors might not want to take part,” said Vivek Durai, co-founder of paper.vc. 

“This round is an upside for existing backers who have increased their stake in the company at a lower valuation,” he said. Rebel Foods is in the market to raise fresh funds at a time when the foodtech sector in India is attracting massive investment.

Rebel Foods, owner-operator of internet kitchen brand Faasos, is in talks with investors to raise a little more than $100 million.

The fund raising is a part of the company's plan to enter overseas markets and expand both its product range and cloud kitchen presence nationally.

The Mumbai-based company was earlier called Faasos Food Services. It is in the process of closing its latest round of equity financing estimated at $35 million. The company’s existing backer, marquee venture firm Sequoia Capital, is likely to put $10-15 million in this round.

Apart from Sequoia Capital, Lightbox, an early backer, has also participated in this round. The early investors of Faasos are also likely to either completely or partially exit in an ongoing secondary transaction. 

The round will value the company at $200-220 million. If successful, this new round could close by December 2018 or January 2019. 

Faasos is operating around 1,100 internet restaurants. The net revenue of Rs 147 crore was earned by the company in the financial year 2017-18. It has projected net revenue of Rs 300-350 crore for fiscal 2019. 

ऑनलाइन रेस्तरां फासोस दुबई में मल्टी ब्रांड क्लाउड किचनों का पहला बैच स्थापित करने की तैयारी कर रहा है। कंपनी 2019 की पहली तिमाही तक शहर में तीन किचन शुरू करेगी। इसके साथ ही, यह मध्य पूर्व में अपने ब्रांड फासोस, बेहरौज बिरयानी, ओवन स्टोरी और फिरंगी बेक लॉन्च करेगी।

विकास के अगले चरण को पकड़ने की मांग देखते हुए, फासोस फूड सर्विसेज वैश्विक बाजारों में प्रवेश कर रही है। यह ब्रांड फासोस संचालित करता है।

फासोस का लक्ष्य वित्तीय वर्ष 2018-19 के अंत तक शुद्ध राजस्व 300 करोड़ रुपये हासिल करना है। कंपनी ने 2017-18 के साल में 147 करोड़ रुपये का शुद्ध राजस्व हांसिल किया था।

फासोस के सीईओ जयदीप बरमान ने कहा, "हम अपने मौजूदा किचन के आसपास सीमित स्थानों में नए ब्रांडों का परीक्षण करते हैं। हम केवल उन ब्रांडों को स्केल करते हैं, जिन्हें हम जानते हैं कि उपयोगकर्ताओं द्वारा पसंद किया जा रहा है और जहां अच्छा बिज़नेस हैं। अच्छी बात यह है कि हमारे किचन दूसरे ही महीने से लाभदायक हो जाते है और इसलिए हम ईबीआईटीडीए स्तर पर वित्त वर्ष 19-अंत तक लाभप्रद हो जायेंगे।"

"वैश्विक स्तर पर हर क्षेत्र में, जैसे आतिथ्य, सवारी-पालन, इत्यादि में एक इंटरनेट कंपनी अपने ऑफलाइन साथियों से अधिक मूल्यवान कंपनी बन गई है, लेकिन रेस्तरां में, वैश्विक रूप से अभी भी मैकडॉनल्ड्स है। दुनिया का सबसे बड़ा मल्टी ब्रांड क्लाउड किचन कंपनी होने के नाते, यही है जिसे हम इंटरनेट पर रेस्तरां बनाकर बदलने की कोशिश कर रहे हैं," बरमान ने आगे कहा।

Online restaurant Faasos is preparing to establish its first batch of multi-brand cloud kitchens in Dubai. The company will start three kitchens in the city by the first quarter of 2019. With this, it will launch its brands Faasos, Behrouz Biryani, Oven Story and Firangi Bake in the Middle East. 

Seeking to capture the next leg of growth, Faasos Food Services is entering into global markets. It operates the brand Faasos.

The net revenue expected by Faasos by the end of the financial year 2018-19 is Rs 300 crore. The firm had ended 2017-18 with Rs 147 crore in net revenue.

Jaydeep Barman, CEO of Faasos, said, "We test new brands with limited locations within our existing kitchens. We only scale those brands that we know are being liked by users and where economics are working. The good thing is that our kitchens become profitable in the second month itself and so we will be profitable by FY19-end at an EBITDA level."

"In every sector globally, like hospitality, ride-hailing, etc., an internet company has become the most-valuable company taking over from its offline peers. But in restaurants, globally it is still McDonald’s. As the world’s largest multi-brand cloud kitchen company, this is what we are trying to change by creating restaurants on the internet," Barman further added. 

India’s one of the largest Food Technology Company, Faasos has recently tied up with Citrus Pay for payments on their Mobile App.

The integration of Citrus Pay has made cashless payments seamless on the App, enabling reduced friction for the customer.

“Citrus has been working towards bringing more and more benefits to its customers. Thistie-up is another such step in that direction. We’re focused on making cashless payments a household practice. Faasos being a popular brand among the youth will also help us connect with the kind of users we cater to the best,” said Jitendra Gupta, Founder of Citrus Payment Solutions.

In order to encourage users to experience the Faasos App, Citrus is also enabling an interesting launch activity.

Faasos is giving Rs 100 to first time app users called Faasos Cash via the Citrus Wallet, which can be spent exclusively on ordering food from Faasos.

The offer is doing well and it wouldn’t be wrong to say that customers are literally lapping it up, shared the release.

The offer is in its initial stages but users can’t seem get enough of the free food that the Rs 100 gives them access to.