Faasos parent Rebel Foods bags funding from Coatue Management

By Narinder Kapur

  • 13 Apr 2020
Credit: Pexels

Rebel Foods Pvt. Ltd, the operator of cloud kitchen-based brands such as Faasos and Behrouz Biryani, has raised nearly $50 million (around Rs 382 crore at current exchange rates) in a fresh funding round from US-based hedge and investment fund Coatue Management.

The Mumbai-based company has issued 5,627 Series E1 compulsorily convertible preference shares to Coatue at a valuation of between Rs 6.39 - 6.74 lakh per share, according to regulatory filings with the ministry of corporate affairs.

This translates to an overall investment of between Rs 359.72 - 379.72 crore in Rebel Foods.

The fresh capital infusion comes a little over eight months after the company raised $125 million (about Rs 868 crore) from Goldman Sachs, Indonesia’s Go-Jek and Coatue. According to reports at the time, the Sequoia Capital-backed Rebel Foods was valued at around $525 million.

Rebel Foods was founded in 2004 by INSEAD alumni Jaydeep Barman and Kallol Banerjee. It began operations as a quick-service restaurant chain before pivoting to an online kitchen model. Earlier known as Faasos Food Services Pvt. Ltd, it rebranded itself to Rebel Foods in 2018.

In September last year, ride-hailing firm Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick reportedly purchased a small stake in Rebel Foods as part of the above-mentioned funding round.

Earlier in February this year, venture debt firm Alteria Capital gave Rs 35 crore (around $4.9 million) to the cloud kitchen operator. The investment took Alteria’s total position in Rebel Foods to Rs 85 crore. At the time, Barman said venture debt had helped give it a significantly longer runway on its equity funding.

In March last year, Rebel Foods raised Rs 110 crore (around $15.8 million) as part of its Series D round of funding led by Sequoia Capital. Lightbox Ventures and Evolvence India Fund also participated in the round.

Other backers of the firm include Innoven Capital, RB Investments, RTP Global Advisors and Irving Investors, according to VCCEdge, the data research arm of Mosaic Digital.