Hangyo, a popular ice-cream brand in South India, has raised $25 million (around Rs 200 crore) from Faering Capital in its largest institutional round in over 20 years, as investors rush to back consumer companies.
It will use the capital to enhance its production capabilities, accelerate new product development and expand its presence across its key markets, primarily in the south, the company said on August 22.
“The investment brings not only financial support but also a wealth of experience and strategic value to our company. This partnership will greatly enhance our expansion plans, driving growth and reinforcing our market leadership,” Hangyo founder and managing director Pradeep Pai said.
With the fundraise, Hangyo joins a growing list of ice-cream brands which have raised capital to scale up operations.
Over the past months, Hocco, Go Zero, NIC and others have all raised money to grow customer base. A significant part of the growth in ice-cream companies is also fuelled by the quick commerce boom, which has solved for discoverability and made distribution a lot easier.
Hangyo has a strong presence in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra with more than 350 distributors and over 30,000 retail touchpoints.
Hangyo, which sells cups, cones, sorbets, stick ice-creams, tubs and kulfis across general trade, modern trade and online channels, has a combined capacity of 1.2 lakh litres a day.
Founded in 2003 by the Pai family, Hangyo previously raised around $5 million from a clutch of angels and other investors.
For Faering Capital, Hangyo is the first investment of 2024. The homegrown private equity firm, which has raised around $720 million across three funds, has backed cake company Bakingo, lifestyle startup Nykaa, investment platform Smallcase, insurance player Go Digit and Prataap Snacks among others.
“Hangyo Ice Creams is a fast growing and profitable consumer company that has consistently delivered high quality products driven by state-of-the-art manufacturing, wide distribution, and strong customer love. Faering Capital is delighted to partner with Hangyo in their next stage of growth,” co-founder and MD Sameer Shroff said.
