Rebel Foods’ valuation soars to $820 Mn with latest tranche from Coatue

The number of unicorns have increased over three-fold from 15 in 2018 to 52 in 2019, according to a Nasscom report. While  the number of new unicorns this year would be few because of Covid-19 pandemic, full stack foodtech company Rebel Foods (aka Faasos) appears to be advancing towards the coveted $1 billion valued club.

According to regulatory filings, Rebel Foods has received $26.5 million (Rs 198.85 crore) from Coatue Management in the extended Series E round. In April, it had raised $50 million from the US-based hedge fund and the latest tranche is part of the round. Coatue is the biggest stakeholder in Rebel Foods. It owns 22.13% stake in the Mumbai-based company.

Rebel Foods has been valued close to $820 million (Rs 6,145 crore) after this tranche, as per Fintrackr’s estimate. Rebel Foods’ valuation has jumped by nearly 17% in a little over 3 months. It was valued around $700 million in April.

Coatue’s holding in the company is currently valued close to $180.9 million. Its early backer Sequoia holds 16.12% stake worth $131.8 million (Rs 988.4 crore) whereas SGI owns a 15.42% stake worth $126.11 million.

Lightbox commands 12.32% equity that is valued at $100.72 million (Rs 755.43 crore). Rebel Foods’ founder Jaydeep Barman has 10.45% stake worth $85.45 million (Rs 641 crore) The company’s ESOP pool holds 7.29% which is valued at $59.6 million. Goldman Sachs owns 4.68% of the Braman-led firm that is worth $38.24 million while Runet has a 3.95% stake and it worths $32.31 million.

Other stakeholders collectively own 7.69% of Rebel Foods that is valued at $62.46 million. Rebel Foods is the third most-valued food-tech firm after Swiggy and Zomato, which are valued at $3.6 billion and $3.25 billion, respectively. 

Almost a decade old company, Rebel Foods runs multi-brand cloud kitchens across brand names – Faasos, Oven Story, Firangi Bake, Mandarin Oak, Kettle & Eggs, and Behrouz. Apart from its own app, it roughly generates about 60% of its demand via aggregators – Swiggy, Zomato and UberEats.

Foodtech companies have been hit hard by the pandemic. Although Swiggy and Zomato have recovered 40-45%  of their pre-Covid19 scale, they also resorted to mass layoffs to extend the runway. 

Early this week, Swiggy had laid off about 350 employees. Entrackr had exclusively reported it on Monday. Its rival Zomato also fired 13% of its workforce in June. So far, Rebel Foods is the only foodtech company that didn’t cut its workforce this year.