Exclusive: Yu Foods Nets $6.5 Mn Led By Ashish Kacholia, Asian Paints Promoter Group

Delhi NCR-based instant packaged food startup Yu Foods has raised INR 55 Cr ($6.5 Mn) in its Series B funding round led by ace investor Ashish Kacholia and Asian Paints Promoter Group.

The round also saw exit of some of its early investors, giving them as high as 4X exit, Bharat Bhalla, cofounder of Yu Foods told Inc42.

The startup will utilise the fresh capital to strengthen its distribution network and expand product portfolio.

The fresh round of investment comes almost eight months in its Series A funding round from Kacholia and the Choski’s family office.

Founded in 2021 by Bharat Bhalla and Varun Kapur, Yu offers breakfast, lunch and dinner meal bowls. It offers more than 25 instant food products, including noodles, pastas, desserts and halwa, among others. The startup initially launched instant cup noodles, and pastas in its founding year and later forayed into ready-to-cook noodles, pastas, and and now to beverages.

The startup claims to have solidified its omnichannel presence, besides its presence in the quick commerce platforms such as Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and Zepto, Yu Foods’ products are also available in 7,500 retail stores. Besides India, the startup products are also available in Africa.

Recently, the startup launched its 100% fresh fruit juice.

With the latest fundraise, the startup’s total funding stands at around INR 100 Cr across multiple rounds.

Last year, the startup also roped in cricket Hardik Pandya as its brand ambassador. It also counts angel investors such as Sameer Mehta (Founder of Boat), Srikrishna Dwaram (Partner, True North Private Equity), Nikhil Srivastava (PAG Private Equity) and DPIITs Start Up India Seed Fund among its investors.

The startup closely competes against FMCG giants such as Nestle, Orkla (Earlier known as MTR Foods), Nissin, ITC, among others. In the D2C space, it competes against the likes of Master Chow.

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