One of the leading snack food manufacturing venture Kishlay Foods announced that it has raised $15 million (Rs100 crore) in the latest funding round. The round was led by equity investment firm Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) and D.K. Surana, promoter of Intensive Software Services.
Founded in 2003, the company’s investment also features a prominent secondary share sale component. The funds so raised will be utilized in acquiring the existing business partners, and also to expand distribution in North and East India markets. A part of the funds might also be used to launch additional product lines and enhance the management team.
Sandeep Bajaj, CEO of Kishlay Foods said, “Kishlay foods is well positioned to penetrate deeper in its home markets and expand further in new geographies and products. Kishlay is excited to partner with NVP and Intensive and will benefit greatly from the support of external investors as it looks ahead on to its next phase of growth.”
The investment is anticipated to boost up the growth towards building a powerful brand platform and capturing an increased share of the organized snack market in India. The Guwahati-based snack maker is a significant regional player focused on the snacks market and currently has a dominant presence in North East. It sells products under the brand names of “Non-Stop”, “Kishlay” and “Mamooz”.
“As part of Norwest’s investment focus on food tech, packaged food and food services, we have been tracking Kishlay Foods for a long time, and have been extremely impressed with the quality of the team, the company’s rapid growth and strategic execution,” said Sumer Juneja, Director at NVP India. “With its unique products and growing distribution network, Kishlay is well positioned to capture this opportunity,” he added.
Juneja also stated that the large organized snacks market in India is estimated to be $8 billion and is growing at 20% CAGR. Let’s hope that the latest funding round of Kishlay Foods proves to be successful for the company and helps it to grow even more.