The Third Wave Coffee Raises C Series Funding To The Tune Of $35M(Image: x.com/@BreezeDotIn)
Third Wave Coffee, a quick service coffee and food brand, has raised $35 million in a series of C funding. The funding was by Creaegis, which is a private investment firm based at Bengaluru. The existing investors of Third Wave, WestBridge Capital and other angel investors also took part in the funding.
The brand has plans of expanding on a pan-India scale. The capital would be channelized into strengthening its supply chain, enhance its technological capabilities and for strategic investments in technology, the firm said in a statement, the mint reported.
Sushant Goel, co-founder and chief executive of Third Wave Coffee said on the investments raised, “Creaegis led our Series C fundraise, with participation from Westbridge Capital and angel investor Sujeet Kumar, besides others,” “we believe the coffee-first QSR industry is one of the fastest-growing consumer categories in the country. We have grown 5x in the last year and strategically expanded our footprint across India. Going forward, we will double down on technology and product innovation to deliver a superior cafe experience across India.”
The Third wave was founded in 2017, by Goel, Ayush Bathwal, and Anirudh Sharma.
India’s coffee industry is set to go beyond $4.2 billion and coffee retail outfits could likely to touch $850 million by 2025, said the mint. The Firm which is in line with the coffee and food industry in India, now has more than 100 stores.
Prakash Parthasarathy, Creaegis managing partner and chief executive, and partner Nitish Bandi, said, “third Wave is emerging as one of the most loved brands, answering to India’s aspirations. We will support its management team in next phase of growth, using a digital-first approach to build an iconic company.”
WestBridge Capital, an earlier investor led a $21 million Series B round in the Third Wave, with participation from marque angel investors in May 2022. The managing partner at WestBridge Capital, Sandeep Singhal said, “we have been impressed with the tremendous traction and customer love that Third Wave Coffee generated across cities. We will strengthen our partnership with the company and work towards scaling both footprint and customer experience manifold.”
India’s coffee experience began 1996, with VG Siddharth’s Café Coffee Day on Brigade Road in Bengaluru. Until then, coffee was mostly filter coffee experience. Third Wave has its retails set up at Bengaluru, Mumbai, Gurgaon, Delhi, Pune, Noida, Hyderabad, Coonoor and Chandigarh.
With American coffee giant Starbucks entering the market with the Tata group in 2012, at Mumbai, the scene changed totally with annual revenue of the company going beyond Rs. 1,000 crore in 11 years. It also paved the way for new specialty coffee brands, Blue Tokai, The Flying Squirrel, Indian Bean, and Sleepy Owl. As a part of the evolving coffee culture, international players, Tim Hortons of Canada and Pret A Manger of the UK has entered the Indian scene. In recent developments in the Indian coffee space, Nestle has announced a new factory as part of expansion plans and Bollywood star, Deepika Padukone, has acquired a stake in Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters, reported the mint.
