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Walko Food's NIC raises $20 Mn led by Jungle Ventures

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Walko Food’s NIC, an ice cream brand and a quick-service restaurant (QSR) company, has raised $20 million in a new funding round led by existing investor Jungle Ventures. This is Jungle’s second investment into Walko Food within less than 12 months. The Singapore-based VC firm led a $11 million round in Walko in May last year. The latest round of capital will further propel Walko’s expansion across its product portfolio and customer reach, and accelerate its penetration into the Indian ice cream market, the company said in a press release. Co-founded in 2012 by Jeetendra Bhandari, Sanjiv Shah, and Raj Bhandari, Walko sells premium ice creams, kulfis, frozen desserts and thick shakes via its brands including, NIC, Grameen Kulfi, Yummo, and Cream Pot. The products are available on food tech and quick commerce platforms such as Instamart, Zomato, Swiggy, and Blinkit, among others. Walko claims that it has achieved a CAGR of 90% in the last five years and has a presence in over 100 cities across India. Earlier, the company appointed celebrity Rashmika Mandanna as its brand ambassador for its premium ice cream brand NIC to amplify brand presence and it also recently partnered with Zepto to distribute 250,000 cups of NIC ice cream. NIC competes with new-age as well as established brands such as Cream and Fudge, Havmor, Baskin Robbins, Kwality Walls, Mother Dairy, Cream Bell, Amul and Vadilal. NIC’s revenue from operations increased 32% to Rs 170 crore during FY23 as compared to Rs 128 crore in FY22. As per the company’s consolidated financial statement, the firm posted Rs 26.55 crore loss in FY23 against Rs 85 lakh profit in the previous year. Jungle Ventures backs startups from early to growth to IPO stage. Its portfolio includes Kredivo, Moglix, Livspace, Builder.ai, Atomberg, and others.