Cloud kitchen brand Salad Days has raised ₹30 crore in its Series A funding round, co-led by V3 Ventures and Client Associates Alternate Fund (CAAF). This funding marks the company’s first institutional funding after operating as a self-funded venture for over a decade. Post-pandemic, the growing demand for healthy food boosted the company’s business, leading Madan to expand beyond Delhi-NCR. In 2023, the brand entered the Bengaluru market, and in 2024, it launched in Mumbai.
Founded in 2014 by Varun Madan in the Delhi-NCR region, Salad Days offers a range of healthy food products, including salads, oatmeal bowls, soups, cold-pressed juices, smoothies, and desserts. The company operates through cloud kitchens and its outlets.
“With the current fundraising, the idea is to support future expansion. We have learned some things in the last three years. We would further accelerate the opening of our cloud kitchens; in six to nine months, we will look at more formats also and drive subscriptions,” said Madan, founder & CEO of Salad Days.
Cloud kitchens will lead to future expansion. “We should add between 15 to 20 kitchens per annum,” he said. Salad Days also operates an organic farm for fresh produce in Delhi.
The company operates through a network of 25 cloud kitchens, with 12 outlets in Delhi-NCR, 9 in Bengaluru, and 4 in Mumbai. “Profitability remains an important lever for us. We would definitely want to get into new cities, but the focus is on growing in existing markets,” he said.
A report from Redseer Strategy Consultancy released this week states that the Indian food services market is valued at $80 billion in 2024 and projects a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10-11% through 2030.
The market already includes major global chains like Pizza Hut, Domino’s, Burger King, and McDonald’s. Additionally, the rise of aggregators like Swiggy and Zomato has further contributed to the market’s growth.
“The plug-and-play model of cloud kitchens facilitates scalability, with new brands reaching ₹100 crore revenue in as little as 2-3 years, significantly faster than the 6-10 years typically taken by dine-in-focused brands,” said Rohan Agarwal, partner, Redseer Strategy Consultancy.
Arjun Vaidya, co-founder and managing partner at V3 Ventures, stated that India is transforming its approach to food, and Salad Days perfectly aligns with this shift. V3 Ventures is the venture capital arm of the Belgian investment firm Verlinvest.
The organized restaurant sector, which now makes up about half of the market, is growing faster than the unorganized sector, thanks to the rise of online food delivery and an influx of branded food options. According to Redseer, urban consumers, particularly in metro and tier-I cities, are increasingly choosing to order food in or dine out.
Salad Days sells healthy food through its website, centralized phone lines, and major food aggregators like Swiggy, Zomato, and ONDC.
