WayCool Foods acquires 'significant' stake in ready-to-cook brand Freshey's

Chennai-based food supply chain firm WayCool Foods & Products Tuesday said it has acquired a 'significant' equity stake in Benani Foods Pvt Ltd which sells ready-to-cook products under Freshey's brand. "The company has acquired stake of angel investors including that of TVS Electronics. TVS Electronics had invested in Freshey's at an early stage and has built a strong product development and operational capabilities since inception," WayCool said in a statement. The company, however, did not disclose the quantum of the equity stake acquired by it and the deal value.

Benani Foods manufactures and markets ready-to-cook products including idli and dosa batter, paneer, idiyappam and papad. The company retails its products under the brand Freshey's and caters to 1,250 retail outlets and around 50 enterprise clients. "Freshey's will continue to operate under the same brand name after the acquisition. WayCool's strong and robust supply chain mechanism and distribution network will enable entry of Freshey's across other markets of south India, as well as part of WayCool's product portfolio," the company added.

WayCool serves a network of around 5,000 clients with 200 tonne of food products every day from a base of 35,000 farmers.

Benani Foods Founder Venkatesh Deivanayagam said the company will "use the current equity to further cement our position in Chennai, and subsequently expand our presence into the rest of southern India. We will also use the investment to accelerate the launch of new products".

Earlier this month, WayCool had acquired the physical distribution business of Aalgro Foods, a Bengaluru-based B2B company in fruit retail packing and distribution space.