Curefoods acquires cloud kitchen brand Yumlane Pizza for undisclosed amount

Accel and Chiratae Ventures-backed Curefoods has fully acquired Yumlane Pizza and its proprietary technology for an undisclosed sum. The deal will enable Curefoods to use Yumlane’s pizza technology for its other brands.

The move is also expected to help Curefoods—which owns brands like EatFit, Nomad Pizza, and CakeZone—expand its reach and distribution through Yumlane’s network of cloud kitchens, the firms said in a statement.

Bengaluru-based Curefoods acquired cloud kitchen franchise rights for the south Indian market followed by a 10% stake in the foodtech firm a year later.

Founded by Hitesh Ahuja, Rueben Ghosh, and Rahul Kumar in March 2016, Yumlane built its proprietary technology stack for pizza making and later forayed into the cloud kitchen business with Yumlane Pizza and started its business-to-business (B2B) segment.

Yumlane expanded the B2B vertical distribution network to over 15 cities and has served several brands such as Barbeque Nation, Frozen Bottle, and Reliance Retail’s joint venture 7-11.

Yumlane has raised funding from investors including Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, Shaadi.com’s Anupam Mittal, Orios Ventures, and RB Investments. Curefoods raised Rs 200 crore (~$36 million) in a debt-equity mix round led by Binny Bansal’s venture capital firm Three State Ventures. IronPillar, Chiratae Ventures, ASK Finance and Winter Capital also participated in the round.

“We have had a great partnership with Curefoods in the last two years and it is gratifying to know that they see value in what we have built in the pizza category. We are certain that with their deep operational and marketing expertise and ability to scale food brands, Curefoods will be able to grow this manifold and wish them all the success in building Yumlane into a pizza juggernaut,” Hitesh Ahuja, Co-founder and CEO of Yumlane Pizza, said in a statement.

“Yumlane’s novel and industry-first approach to crafting pizza using proprietary technology has enabled it to consistently deliver high-quality products. Its extensive B2B client network and their positioning as a value leader in the pizza category align strategically with our brand portfolio and we are excited to harness Yumlane's potential to enhance the pizza category,” Gokul Kandhi, Chief Business Officer of Curefoods, added.