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Swiss firm responsAbility, Sequoia dish out fresh funds to sauce maker Wingreens

By Debjyoti Roy

  • 19 Nov 2019
Swiss firm responsAbility, Sequoia dish out fresh funds to sauce maker Wingreens
Wingreens co-founders- Anju Srivastava and Arjun Srivastava

Dipping sauce maker Wingreens Farms Pvt. Ltd has raised Rs 125 crore ($17 million) from Swiss impact investor responsAbility Investments AG and existing backer Sequoia Capital.

The Swiss firm put Rs 90 crore and Sequoia the remaining, co-founder Arjun Srivastava told VCCircle. “All of this is primary capital,” he said. This is the company’s Series B round of funding.

VCCircle had first reported the development last week.

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Srivastava also said that the company will use the fresh capital mainly for geographical expansion and to look for inorganic growth opportunities. “We are present in over 140 cities,” he said.

The company says its products are available at nearly 8,000 retail touch points, which include general trade and modern trade outlets. It is also present on all the leading e-commerce platforms such as BigBasket. Wingreens aims to reach nearly 1 lakh outlets in next two to three years, said Srivastava.

Veda Corporate Advisors advised Wingreens on the deal.

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Wingreens was launched in 2011 by Srivastava and her wife, Anju. It started its operations with fresh dips, but later expanded to spreads, sauces, pita chips and bakery products. It is said to have over 180 stock-keeping units.

Previously, the company had raised more than $5 million in two rounds from venture capital firm Sequoia in 2014 and 2017, according to VCCEdge, the financial data platform of Mosaic Digital.

Wingreens had posted net sales of Rs 30 crore for the financial year 2017-18, up from Rs 16 crore the year before. Its sales for 2018-19 jumped to about Rs 49 crore, Srivastava said.

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responsAbility Investments

Founded in 2003, the Swiss impact investor provides debt and equity financing predominantly to unlisted companies in emerging economies. With about $3 billion of assets under management, it has invested in about 540 companies in 90 countries, its website shows. It has been quite active in India's financial services sector.

In September, responsAbility pumped more money into New Delhi-based Satya MicroCapital Ltd. In August, it led a $10 million funding round in Gurugram-based Aye Finance. In July, the Swiss impact investor invested in Satin Creditcare.

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Its other investments in the country include biomass aggregator Punjab Renewable Energy Systems, sanitary services provider Saraplast Pvt. Ltd and business process manager DesiCrew Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Wingreens is among only a handful of in dips and sauces makers that have raised funding in the recent past.

Earlier this month, Vadodara-based All That Dips Pvt. Ltd, which offers preservatives-free dipping sauces, got the backing of early-stage venture capital firm GVFL Ltd, formerly known as Gujarat Venture Finance Ltd.

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Specialty food ingredients maker Veeba Food Services Pvt. Ltd raised fresh capital from Belgian private investment firm Verlinvest SA, an existing investor, in October.

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