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)
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