Third Wave Coffee raises $35 Mn led by Creaegis

Coffee chain firm Third Wave Coffee has raised $35 million in a Series C round led by home grown private equity firm Creaegis. Existing investors WestBridge Capital and Udaan’s cofounder Sujeet Kumar have also participated in the round.

The company will utilize the capital for expansion across the country, bolstering its supply chain, and investments in technology, Third Wave Coffee said in a press release.

While the company did not disclose its valuation, an ET report estimated its valuation at around $150 million (Rs 1,200 crore).

Six-year-old Third Wave Coffee is a coffee chain that offers a curated food menu and handpicked coffee. It has cafes across different Indian cities namely Hyderabad, Coonoor, Bengaluru, Delhi (NCR), Mumbai, Chandigarh, and Pune.

It claims to have about 105 stores, of which 50% are operational in Bengaluru. The firm is looking to add another 50-60 this year across metro and tier I cities.

Founded by Ayush Bathwal, Anirudh Sharma and Sushant Goel, it raised $6 million in a series A funding round in December 2021. In May 2022, WestBridge Capital led a $21 million Series B investment in the Bengaluru-based company. Before this round, Westbridge was the largest stakeholder with 26.19% while the three co-founders collectively held 33.19%, according to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible.

The startup competes with popular coffee chains including Starbucks and specialized coffee brands such as Blue Tokai, Sabko Coffee, Rage Coffee, Slay Coffee, Sleepy Owl, and  Seven Beans Co., among others.

In January, Blue Tokai raised $30 million in its Series B funding round led by A91 Partners.

Third Wave Coffee is yet to report FY23 numbers but it registered a 2.7X growth in its operating revenue to Rs 31.75 crore in FY22. The company’s losses soared 3.3X to Rs 14.5 crore in the same period (FY22), as per TheKredible.

This is Creaegis’ second investment within a week of launching its $426 million maiden fund for Indian startups. On Wednesday, it backed Doceree, a network of physician-only platforms for programmatic messaging. Its portfolio includes firms like Medikabazaar, Zopper, and Kale Logistics.