Jungle Ventures backed $11 M Growth funding secured by ice cream & QSR brand NIC
In a growth funding round headed by Jungle Ventures, Walko Food’s NIC, an ice cream brand and quick-service restaurant (QSR) business, has raised $11 million.
Walko Food received $4.8 million in funding from JM Financials earlier in 2021.
According to a press release from the company, the additional funds will be used to increase Walko’s production capacity, improve its product lineup, and extend its distribution network. In order to improve its business operations and support its anticipated growth, the Pune-based company also plans to invest in efficiency management systems, including enterprise resource planning (ERP) software.
Walko’s brand, NIC, which was co-founded in 2012 by Jeetendra Bhandari, Sanjiv Shah, and Raj Bhandari, has become one of the most well-known ice cream brands on platforms for food technology and fast commerce, including Instamart, Zomato, Swiggy, and Blinkit. With a presence in more than 100 cities across India, Walko asserts that it has achieved an impressive CAGR of 90% in the previous five years.
NIC’s operational revenue increased 2.3X to Rs 128.6 crore in FY22 from Rs 55.6 crore in FY21. According to the company’s consolidated financial statement, profits increased from Rs 1k in FY21 to Rs 27 lakh in FY22.
The closure of Jungle Ventures’ $600 million fund for investments in South East Asia and India was announced by the Singapore-based company last year. The fund supports startups at every stage of their development, from seed to unicorn and IPO. Kredivo, Moglix, Livspace, Builder.ai, Atomberg, and other brands are among those in its portfolio.
