The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has given the green light to global investment powerhouse KKR’s plan to acquire a stake in India’s leading food-tech unicorn, Rebel Foods. US-based KKR, through its affiliate Royce Asia Holdings II Pte, will invest in Rebel Foods, the parent company of popular cloud kitchen brands like Faasos, Behrouz Biryani, and Oven Story. This move marks another high-profile bet on India’s booming online food delivery and cloud kitchen sector.
“By way of the proposed transaction, Royce proposes to acquire certain equity shares and compulsorily convertible preference shares of Rebel Foods (on a fully diluted basis) by way of a secondary purchase,” a notice submitted to the CCI said.
Rebel Foods, founded in 2011 by Jaydeep Barman and Kallol Banerjee, is a Mumbai-based company operating 450 cloud kitchens across ten countries, including India, Indonesia, the UK, and the UAE.
There are no horizontal overlaps or vertical/ complementary links between the activities of the parties (Royce Asia Holdings II and Rebel Foods) and their respective groups/ affiliates in India.
“Accordingly, absent any horizontally overlapping and or vertically/ complementary business activities of the parties in India, the relevant market need not be defined and may be left open as the proposed transaction will not lead to any adverse effect on competition in India,” the notice said.
Under the green channel route, transactions that pose no significant risk to competition receive automatic approval upon notifying the Competition Commission of India (CCI). In line with this, reports last week suggested that Rebel Foods was in advanced talks to secure $50-70 million in fresh funding from global investment firm KKR at a $800-860 million valuation.
Rebel Foods, the parent company behind popular brands like Faasos, Behrouz Biryani, and Oven Story, is in direct competition with key players like Binny Bansal-backed Curefoods and Tiger Global-funded Eatclub in the fast-growing cloud kitchen market.
Adding to its momentum, CCI cleared a deal for Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund TemasekHoldings to acquire a stake in Rebel Foods. This move signalled growing investor confidence in the global expansion and leadership of the food-tech giant.
