D2C food brand Yu has raised ₹55 crore in Series B funding round led by ace investor Ashish Kacholia and Asian Paints Promoter Group.
As part of this round, the Company has also provided an exit to some of its seed stage investors who have realised over 4x return on their investment.
The company plans to deploy the new funds to ramp up distribution and strengthen its food portfolio while also expanding its beverage range with its newly launched fruit juices.
Founded in 2021 by Bharat Bhalla and Varun Kapur, Yu 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. 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 company has network with offline presence in over 7,500 stores across India and is also available at quick commerce and e-commerce platforms across India.
The company has also developed South Africa as a key market where its products are now sold across 2,000+ retail outlets. The brand is witnessing significant business traction having sold more than 1 million units in the month of September 2024.
With the latest fundraise, the startup’s total funding is now at ₹100 crore 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.