Exclusive: Rebel Foods picks up a 14% stake in FoodyBuddy

Rebel Foods has picked up a 14% stake in hyperlocal food networking firm FoodyBuddy with an investment of Rs 5 crore, regulatory filings show. With this latest infusion, Rebel has increased its stake to 26% in the Prime Venture Partners-backed food networking platform.

According to Fintrackr, this round values the Bengaluru-based company at Rs 31 crore in the fresh round. FoodyBuddy connects home chefs to consumers in their vicinity. FoodyBuddy has been leveraged by home chefs, especially housewives to find customers in their apartment buildings and neighbourhood. 

This is the third round of investment in FoodyBuddy. Previously, it raised Rs 6 crore from Prime Venture Partners in January last year. In April this year, Rebel Foods infused Rs 3 crore with plans to leverage FoodyBuddy’s network of about a 1,000 home cooks to foray into the home-cooked meals vertical.

Entrackr had exclusively reported Rebel Foods’ maiden investment in FoodyBuddy.

Following the transaction, FoodyBuddy’s co-founders' stake has diluted to 39.18%. While Akhil Sethuraman holds 15.28%, other two co-founders Anup Gopinath and Rachna Rao command 11.95% each.

Rebel Foods has been able to emerge as a leader in the full stack foodtech space. It runs multi-brand cloud kitchens including Faasos, Oven Story, Firangi Bake, Mandarin Oak, Kettle & Eggs, and Behrouz. Besides its own app, the company generates close to 60% of its demand through marketplaces – Swiggy, Zomato and UberEats.

The Jaydeep Barman-led firm is close to touching a $1 billion valuation and entering the coveted Unicorn club. It was valued at $820 million or Rs 6,145 crore when Coatue invested $26.5 million or Rs 198.85 crore. Coatue is the largest stakeholder with 22.13% holding in the food-focused network.

Rebel Foods had recently rebranded its Faasos application to EatSure.

The additional infusion in FoodyBuddy from Rebel Foods indicates that the company is eyeing to control larger market share in home-cooked food space. Holachef was one of the scaled players in the segment. However, it was sold out to Ola in a distress sale. FoodyBuddy competes with Oota Box and Masala Box among others.