Yu, an omnichannel food brand for consumers, has acquired Series A funding in a combination of equity and venture debt.
With participation from previous investors and Asian Paints Promoter Group (Manish Choksi and Varun Vakil), the round was led by prominent public market investor Ashish Kacholia.
DPIIT’s Start Up India Seed Fund programme, which funded Yu as part of its Rs 945 crore programme to support tech-enabled startups, also participated in the current funding round.
The startup plans to expand its offline and online distribution in India and double its capacity while expanding its global presence across regions like Africa, the Middle East, and the US.
Yu was founded by Bharat Bhalla and Varun Kapur and has created a variety of 15 unique products, including noodles, pasta, oats, and halwa, that can be made in 4-5 minutes by adding hot water.
“The next 12 months will also see us aggressively expanding our presence in global markets like the US, Africa, and the Middle East,” the founders added.
Over 12 months, it entered a variety of distribution channels, including offline stores (3,000+ stores), online (e-Com and Q-Com servicing pan India), over 100 institutional campuses, and exports (South Africa and the US).
The brand is experiencing strong customer traction, has over 200% QoQ growth, and is on track to sell 1 million bowls by Q3-FY23.
The company recently made a foray into the non-vegetarian market with its iconic Butter Chicken Pasta and Chilli Chicken Noodles. Over the following 12 months, the brand hopes to expand its current product portfolio by introducing ten more unique products.
