Happilo raises US$ 25 million from Motilal Oswal Private Equity
Bengaluru, 21 February 2021: Happilo has raised US$ 25 million from MotilalOswal PE (MOPE) to build its a ‘Direct to Consumer’ healthy snacks businessthat includes dry fruits, trail mixes, nut protein bars and muesli. Happilo hadearlier raised US$12 million from A91 Partners in February 2021.
Established in 2016 by VikasNahar, Happilo is India’s leading digital first, omni-channel healthy snackingbrand. Happilo is a profitable, category leader that has successfully grown itsbusiness by 4x in the last 24 months. Deloitte was the advisor to Happilo on thetransaction.
Mr.Vikas Nahar, Promoter and CEO said, “Partnering with MOPE will helpaccelerate our growth plans and significantly scale the business from currentlevels. Their prior experience of investing and working with category leaderswithin the food and beverages segment will add significant value. The investmentwould be used for significant product expansion across healthy snackingcategories, acquisition of synergistic food brands, brand building, capacityexpansion and deepening the distribution infrastructure. This will help usserve our customers better and help us achieve our INR 2,000 crore revenuetarget in the next 4 years.”
Mr. Vishal Tulsyan, ManagingDirector and CEO of MOPE commented, “We are veryexcited to partner with the largest and fastest growing brand in an almostentirely unorganized dried fruits & nuts category. Happilo is a youngcompany and Vikas has shown exceptional execution capabilities by scaling thebrand in such a short time span. As the country increasingly moves online, webelieve the digital channels will be a strong enabler for consumer businessesto scale at a rapid pace. Our investment in Happilo marks our entry into thetech enabled consumer franchisees who have the first mover advantage in large unorganizedcategories.”
Mr.VT Bharadwaj of A91 Partners commented, ‘We are thrilled at theprogress made by Happilo in building a digital first snacking brand in the pastyear. Covid has emphasized the importance of healthy eating and nutritious foodin the mind of every customer. The MOPE investment will help the companyaccelerate its plans across – brand, product and distribution’.
About Motilal Oswal Private Equity
MOPEInvestment Advisors Private Limited (Motilal Oswal PE or MOPE) is a subsidiaryof Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited (MOFSL), a diversified financialservices group with businesses in Securities, Asset Management, HousingFinance, Private Equity and Investment Banking. MOPE is currently managing andadvising four growth capital funds i.e. India Business Excellence Fund (IBEF/IBEF I), India Business Excellence Fund II (IBEF II/ IBEF IIA), India BusinessExcellence Fund III (IBEF III) and the recently launched IBEF IV, focused onproviding growth capital to mid-market companies across its preferred sectorsof consumer, financial services, life sciences and niche manufacturing,typically in the range of INR 200 – 400 crore. IBEF/ IBEF I, launched in 2007is an INR 550 crore (US$ 115 million) fund, and has completely exited allthirteen investments, having delivered a gross MOIC of 6.1x (INR) and gross IRRof 26.8% (INR), making it one of the top performing funds in its vintage. IBEFII/ IBEF IIA, launched in 2012 is an INR 1,000 crore (US$ 155 million) fund andis fully invested in ten portfolio companies, having made one exit. IBEF III,launched in 2018, is an INR 2,300 crore (US$ 320 million) fund and hascommitted ~97% of its capital across ten portfolio companies, with Happilobeing the tenth investment. Further, MOPE has recently launched IBEF IV with atarget corpus of INR 4,500 crore (US$ 600 million) and has achieved its first closeat INR 2,660 crore (US$ 350 million) in November 2021.
About A91 Partners (a91partners.com)
Founded in2018, A91 Partners is an investment firm investingacross consumer, technology, financial services and healthcaresectors in India. A91 partners with entrepreneurs building enduring businessesfor tomorrow’s India. Current investments include Digit General Insurance, AyeFinance, Sugar Cosmetics, Atomberg Technologies, HectorBeverages, PushpMasala, Exotel, Happilo, Inshorts, La Renon,Soothe Healthcare, Alphavector and GIVA.
About Happilo
Established in 2016 by VikasNahar, Happilo is India’s leading digital first, omni-channel healthy snackingbrand. Happilo is a profitable, category leader that has successfully grown itsbusiness by 4x in the last 24 months. Deloitte was the advisor to Happilo on thetransaction.