Curefoods, the cloud kitchen company known for brands like EatFit, CakeZone and Sharief Bhai Biryani, has filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the markets regulator SEBI to raise Rs 800 crore through an initial public offering. If successful, this will mark the first-ever listing by a cloud kitchen operator in India.
The Bengaluru-based firm’s public issue will include a fresh issue of shares along with an offer for sale of up to 4.85 crore shares by existing investors, including Accel, Chiratae Ventures, Nordstar Partners, Iron Pillar, Alteria Capital and Curefit Healthcare.
Curefoods plans to use Rs 152 crore from the fresh proceeds to expand its footprint across formats, setting up new cloud kitchens, restaurants, kiosks and central kitchens, with a significant portion allocated to its recently acquired franchise, Krispy Kreme. Another Rs 127 crore will be used for debt repayment, while part of the remainder will be deployed to increase shareholding in various subsidiaries.
Founded by Ankit Nagori in 2020 after spinning out from Curefit, Curefoods operates over 500 kitchens across 70 cities. Its current brand portfolio includes over ten names, most of which have been acquired over the past few years. In FY25, the company posted operating revenue of Rs 746 crore, a 27% growth over the previous year, while losses narrowed marginally to Rs 170 crore from Rs 172 crore in FY24, as per ET.
Sharief Bhai Biryani emerged as the top revenue contributor in FY25, accounting for nearly 20 per cent of sales, followed closely by EatFit at 19.47%. Olio and CakeZone were the next highest earners. The company’s current ownership structure is led by CEO Ankit Nagori, who holds a 30.3 per cent stake. Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal’s 3State Ventures is the largest institutional investor with an 18.9% stake, followed by Iron Pillar, which holds 12.9% through various funds. Iron Pillar will also offload the largest block of shares in the offer for sale, 1.89 crore shares.
Curefoods last raised capital in March 2024, securing $25 million from 3State Ventures in a round that valued the company at approximately $375 million (Rs 3,100–3,200 crore). The IPO comes at a time when growth in India’s online food delivery sector has slowed, with aggregators like Zomato and Swiggy reporting sub-20 per cent growth for two consecutive quarters.
Against this backdrop, some industry insiders are questioning whether the economics of cloud kitchens have fundamentally improved, or whether this is simply a well-timed listing. “A cloud kitchen is going public. Yes, the same model that burns cash faster than it cooks food,” said Madhav Kasturia, founder and CEO of logistics platform Zippee, shared on LinkedIn. “Curefoods has pulled off Rs 746 crore in revenue, but the losses are still substantial. That’s a burn rate of around 23%.”
Kasturia acknowledged that Curefoods has built significant infrastructure and scale, 502 kitchens across 70 cities, and over ten brands, mostly acquired through consolidation, but raised questions about the model’s long-term sustainability.
“Can they scale without building on rented Swiggy land? Can these brands drive repeat orders without heavy discounting?” he asked. “This is infra, aggregation and D2C brand roll-up running on cloud kitchen rails. Think Rebel Foods 2.0, minus the Rs 7,000-crore valuation fantasy.”
While Kasturia credited the company’s ambition, he offered a note of caution: “DRHPs are great. But dal-chawal profits are better than investor pitch decks.” Curefoods is currently the second-largest cloud kitchen player in the country by revenue, behind Temasek-backed Rebel Foods, which owns Faasos and Behrouz Biryani. The company also competes with Box8 and Freshmenu.
It now joins a growing list of new-age startups preparing to tap public markets, including Groww, Pine Labs, Urban Company, Shiprocket, Wakefit and Capillary Technologies.