MTR Foods sets up Rs 50 Cr startup fund

 

HYDERABAD, May 29: MTR Foods, a Bengaluru-based

packaged food player has set up Rs 50 crore seed fund to

invest in startups that are engaged in food processing and is

actively considering investing in a couple of firms, a top

company official said here Wednesday.

Sanjay Sharma, CEO of MTR Foods also said the company

which clocked about Rs 900 crore revenues in 2018, is hoping

to touch Rs 1,000 crore this year as it has consistently been

growing at 14 per cent CAGR for the past five years.

“We started something like startup fund. The face of

the Indian food processing industry is redefined by the

startups. We want to now clearly participate in this market.

We put together Rs 50 crore fund,” he told PTI.

“We will be a minority partner in every investment

that we want to make. So far we have done one investment,”

Sharma added.

He said the Indian subsidiary of Norwegian

conglomerate Orkla last year invested in Bengaluru-based

FirmRoots which manufactures food for children starting from

nine months to six years.

MTR picked up 42 per cent stake in the startup.

“We keep evaluating many more options (for investment)

which come true in this way. We are in the process of

investing in a couple of other startups,” he further said.

MTR Wednesday launched two unique products-Masala

Karam for use in everyday cooking and Saviyan Upma- under

three-minute breakfast category.

Sharma said Telangana and Andhra Pradesh together

contribute the second highest to the sales from India and this

year the company has put together a strategy to focus on the

two states both in terms of launch of new products as well as

investments and strategic initiatives.

He said the company expects about Rs 150 crore from

the two new products that were launched Wednesday.

MTR exports products worth about 10 per cent of the

total revenues. (PTI)