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New Delhi: Snacking brand Beyond Snack has raised $8.3 million in a Series A funding round led by 12 Flags Group, a consumer-focused fund set up by Rakesh Kapoor, the former global CEO of Reckitt Benckiser.
Existing investor NAB Ventures also participated in the round, along with Japanese VC firm Enrission India Capital and other existing investors, including Faad Network.
The current round values the over four-year-old business started in Kerala at ₹300 crore, according to people familiar with the development.
The company will use the funds to expand into more markets, doubling its offline distribution to 40,000 outlets by the end of fiscal 2026 and expanding its presence to more cities, particularly in the southern regions where it currently has no market presence, said Manas Madhu, founder of Beyond Snack, in an interview with Mint.
Beyond Snack had previously raised $4 million from NAB Ventures, 100X VC, Faad Network, along with angel investors. The company is already present in 20,000 outlets; it draws half its business from offline sales channels. The brand also featured Shark Tank India Season 1 and secured investment from investors Ashneer Grover and Aman Gupta.
India’s savoury snacks industry has grown from ₹500 billion in FY15 to approximately ₹751 billion in FY22, according to a 2024 report by brokerage Anand Rathi. Of this organised and branded products account for around ₹423 billion.
The organized market is dominated by players such as Haldiram, Pepsico (Lay’s), ITC (Bingo), Balaji Wafers, Bikaji Foods International that have a strong foothold across the country. These companies have spent years building deep distribution as well as large scale marketing to scale their business.
Madhu started Beyond Snack citing a lack of large-scale branded alternatives to the popular snack sold in loose and unbranded packs. Within the branded part of the market western savoury snacks hold a dominant position, contributing ₹242 billion or roughly 57% of the total organized savoury snacks market.
“Banana chips have often been underrated due to lack of innovation and right technology," said Madhu.
The brand is currently present in 18 cities—predominantly in west and north India. "It makes sense for us to go deeper into these markets because they do contribute a large part of snacking consumption in India," he said.
Overall, the brand will scale to over 40 cities by fiscal 2026. "We will also be entering south India in the coming year—parts of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu," he said.
Kapoor’s 12 Flags Group started the India-focused fund with a corpus of $100 million in 2023; the fund’s maiden investment in India was in homegrown coffee chain Blue Tokai. 12 Flags India Consumer Fund, had then promised to invest the corpus over a three-year period in early growth consumer businesses.
"Our investment in Beyond Snack is not just about value creation and growth. It’s also about celebrating and promoting one of India's homegrown brands," said Kapoor.
Beyond Snack has also expanded its global footprint and is currently available in 12 countries. The global savoury snack industry is experiencing a surge, and we are planning to capitalize on this growing demand, added Madhu.
“Beyond Snack is currently deepening backend integration and streamlining its supply chain, further enhancing its efficiency and sustainability within the Agri value chain,” said Ashish Choudhury, chief investment officer, NAB Ventures.
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