Consumer Foods Brand You raises $1 million in funding

Other investors participating as part of the group include the Lalwani family, a UK-based hospitality group; Nikhil Srivastava, Head of India at PAG Private Equity; and Vishal Sampath, Founder, Convonix, among others.

The company is expected to utilize the proceeds from round to scale operations and expand its presence across the country.

U offers a range of instant and ready-to-make meal bowls with zero preservatives.

“We have combined the most advanced food science technology with culinary art to re-imagine the future of packaged foods. Our instant food bowls are packed with gourmet flavor and nutrients, using zero preservatives or artificial ingredients. The use of proprietary processes has enabled us to launch our products at an attractive price point ₹75-100 per bowl. Bharat Bhalla, Founder and Executive Director, You FoodLabs said, “We are adopting an all-encompassing sales strategy and will be present in offline and online stores across India in the times to come.

All products are prepared and packaged in the UK’s integrated 12,000-square-foot commercial-scale food-lab in Gurugram, the company said.

“It is heartening to receive a very convincing vote of confidence from an eminent group of investors in our pre-launch phase. We have partnered with high pedigree investors with backgrounds in consumer brands, private equity, hospitality, technology and digital marketing. We will use the funds to expand our production capacity to over 500,000 food bowls per month while expanding our distribution network in key markets across India, said Varun Kapoor, Founder and Executive Director, You FoodLabs.

The company wants to include Desert Bowls, Asian Noodle Bowls and Superfood Breakfast Bowls in its offering.

The company’s products are currently available at over 100 retail outlets across Delhi NCR, including large format stores like Reliance, Spencer, SPAR, Modern Bazaar, Needs Supermarket. The company also has an online presence on e-grocery platforms BigBasket and Swiggy.

The brand aims to establish an offline presence in all other metro cities over the next year.