India dairy player Milk Mantra raises $10m Series D

Existing backers Eight Roads Ventures India and Aavishkaar also took part, according to media reports linked from the company’s Twitter feed. Eight Roads, previously called Fidelity Growth Partners, led Milk Mantra’s INR800 million ($13.3 million) Series C round in 2014 with participation by Aavishkaar, which had contributed two previous undisclosed funding rounds in 2011 and 2013.

Milk Mantra will use the new capital for organic and inorganic expansion, with an eye to acquiring dairy farms across eastern India. It described this as the first tranche of a larger funding round that is expected to close later this year.

The company produces branded dairy products including packaged milk, yogurt, cheese and lassi, with milk sourced from a network of farmers in more than 800 villages in its home state of Odisha. Along with buying milk, Milk Mantra aims to help its farmers improve their operations through organizing veterinary services and artificial insemination programs, supplying feed supplements, and helping farmers procure cattle loans.

A number of dairy businesses in India have raised capital from PE players. In the last year Lok Capital led a INR450 million Series B round for dairy brand Oram, Motilal Oswal Private Equity committed INR1.1 billion to frozen dessert maker Dairy Classic Ice Creams, and KKR invested INR5.2 billion in dairy products provider Kwality through a structured finance transaction.

In addition, IDFC Alternatives completed a partial exit from Parag Milk Foods in the company’s IPO, realizing INR1.8 billion through the offering.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Industrials
• Expansion
• Consumer
• India
• Eight Roads