Binny Bansal, the co-founder of Flipkart, is reportedly set to invest $25-30 million in Curefoods, a startup led by his former colleague Ankit Nagori. Curefoods operates cloud kitchens and restaurants. This fresh investment will increase Bansal’s total commitment to the company to approximately $50 million.
Having made a complete exit from Flipkart in August, Bansal has been actively increasing his personal investments, including substantial contributions to startups like PhonePe and Curefoods.
Sources suggest that Binny Bansal’s intention is to double down on his support for Curefoods, aligning with his investment strategy of backing startups with significant stakes. In April, Curefoods conducted a fundraising round, securing Rs 240 crore in primary and secondary investments from Bansal’s Three State Ventures. This increased Bansal’s ownership in Curefoods to around 12%.
It remains unclear whether Bansal’s latest investment will involve other participants in a funding round or if it will be primarily through a secondary share sale.
Furthermore, Bansal’s growing involvement with Curefoods signifies a strengthening relationship between the two entrepreneurs. Notably, Bansal has also finalized plans to acquire a 10% stake in the Bengaluru franchise of the volleyball team within the Prime Volleyball League (PVL), where Ankit Nagori holds the largest share. This sports merchandise investment was previously reported in May.
Binny Bansal has been actively meeting with various startup founders to explore potential investments, with Rajnish Baweja playing a crucial role as an executive at Three State Ventures in evaluating investment proposals.
In August, Binny Bansal realized substantial gains from a secondary share sale when Accel and Tiger Global also divested their remaining shares to Walmart, the parent company of Flipkart. Following this transaction, Walmart’s ownership in Flipkart exceeded 80%.
Bansal’s stake in Flipkart had previously diminished over the years. In 2021, he sold a portion of his stake to Tencent, leaving him with less than 2% ownership.
On a related note, Curefoods recently announced the completion of its acquisition of Yumlane, a foodtech company specializing in pizza technology. While financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, this acquisition will enable Yumlane to leverage Curefoods’ network to enhance its proprietary pizza technology and expand its operations.
Curefoods had previously invested in Yumlane, alongside Orios Venture Partners and angel investors such as Binny Bansal and Anupam Mittal, the founder of Shaadi.com. In 2021, Curefoods acquired the franchisee rights for the South India market and secured a 10% stake in Yumlane in 2022.
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Curefoods boasts a diverse portfolio of brands, including EatFit, CakeZone, Nomad Pizza, Sharief Bhai Biryani, and Frozen Bottle. The company operates over 200 cloud kitchens and physical stores across 15 cities in India. On the other hand, Mumbai-based Yumlane has a distribution network spanning 15 cities and serves brands like Barbeque Nation, Frozen Bottle, and Curefoods.