iD Fresh Food raises Rs 35 cr from Helion

iD Fresh Food India Pvt Ltd (iD), leaders in the South Indian ready-to-cook packaged food segment, on Thursday announced that they have received Rs 35 crore funding from Helion Venture Partners.

Bangalore-based iD is best known for the idly and dosa batter that is both a category creator in the ready-to-cook segment and at the same time ubiquitous in retail outlets across cities in the South and West. This is the first round of institutional fund raising by the company.

iD will use the funds to introduce new product categories, accelerate geographic expansion and augment the team. Rahul Chowdhri, Partner, Helion, will join the board of the company.

“Ready-to-cook is a very unique category in the F&B segment with products being essentially a tool to enable homemakers get the original taste by minimising the back-end pressure of everyday cooking. We have seen that there is great consumer appetite for authentic and nutritious Indian food, in these times, and across customer segments. With our unique strengths in distribution and our backend technology, we have perfected the ‘zero-inventory’ model, making sure to reach daily supplies to retail stores based on demand; keeping products fresh and as good as home-made, Musthafa said.

Founded in 2005 by IIM Bangalore alumnus P C Musthafa and his associates, Shamsudeen T K, Abdul Nazer, Jafar T K and Noushad T A, iD is growing into a ready-to-cook brand to reckon with.

It was the runaway demand for locally made idly and dosa batter at Musthafa’s cousins’ provision store at Thippasandra in Bangalore that led to the business idea. The key insight being that consumers across SEC A and B categories were looking for convenience options for all kinds of foods.