Ready-to-cook fresh food brand iD Fresh Food Pvt Ltd recently secured a strategic investment from UK-based private equity firm Apax Partners. The Apax Funds will acquire a significant minority stake from existing shareholders Premji Invest and TPG NewQuest, both of which will remain investors alongside the company’s co-founder, PC Musthafa, and the management team.
Though the financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed by the Bengaluru-based company, sources familiar with the deal say the PE fund has picked up around a 35 per cent stake for around Rs1,500 crore, in the company, known primarily for its preservative-free, fresh idli and dosa batter. Over the years, the company, founded in 2005, has significantly expanded its portfolio to include Indian flatbreads (Malabar Parota, Lachha Paratha, Chapati, etc) and accompaniments such as chutneys and sambar, as well as value-added dairy products.
Moreover, from primarily being present in the South, the company, competing with players like MTR, Gits Food, McCain Foods and ITC Kitchens of India, has also expanded its footprint to the North, setting up manufacturing units at multiple locations. From making idli/dosa batter in a 50-sq ft kitchen in Bengaluru to revolutionising food packaging, iD Fresh has come a long way to become India’s largest fresh food brand. A Harvard Business Review case study, the company exemplifies the merits of bringing together the best of innovation and tradition in food.
The recent investment iD Fresh entails a valuation of around R4,000-4,250 crore. This is more than a 2.5x jump in valuation since the company raised around Rs507 crore for a 32.5 per cent stake from NewQuest, Premji Invest and Bennett, Coleman & Co.
In early 2014, iD Fresh raised seed funding from Sequoia Capital India (now Peak XV Partners). Sequoia exited a few months later as part of the Series A round led by Helion Venture Partners. Premji Invest came on board in 2017 via a Series B investment, while NewQuest led a Rs507 crore round of investment 4 years ago, when Helion exited in 2021 with a 10x return. Following this transaction, Premji Invest was the biggest stakeholder in the company, with a stake of around 36.5 per cent, followed by NewQuest with around 25.5 per cent.
Commenting on the investment made by Apax Partners, Musthafa, Chairman & Global CEO, says: “This partnership marks a defining moment in iD Fresh’s journey. From a modest batter-making unit to a brand trusted by millions of households, our growth has been anchored in one simple belief: that consumers deserve fresh, honest food with no shortcuts. The Apax Funds’ investment will allow us to accelerate growth, build capacity, broaden our product range, and scale into more cities and markets.”
Harjot Dhaliwal, Partner and Head of India at Apax, states: “iD Fresh has delivered strong, consistent growth in large, under-penetrated markets. We will work closely with the management team and leverage our consumer-packaged goods expertise to accelerate growth, including expanding distribution into new cities and channels, strengthening the brand through marketing and category-building, driving innovation in adjacent product categories, and using technology and analytics to optimise the company’s fresh, daily-delivered supply chain.”
“iD Fresh sits at the intersection of several powerful, long-term trends in India –rising incomes, rapid urbanisation, and consumers’ desire for convenient yet fresh, clean-label food at home. The company has pioneered an innovative cold-chain model, built a brand that is synonymous with quality in its categories, and delivered strong, consistent growth while scaling profitability. With this investment, we are excited to partner with iD Fresh to support its next phase of growth in India and internationally,” says Rohan Haldea, Partner at Apax.
The last 4-5 years have been quite impressive for iD Fresh Food, which has witnessed significant traction, growing at a CAGR of over 20-25 per cent. The company grew 22.27 per cent in FY25 to Rs688.22 crore, and the brand is now chasing 20-25 per cent annual growth while staying EBITDA-positive. After years in the red, profitability came in FY24 with a PBT of R4.56 crore, which grew nearly six-fold in FY25 to Rs26.7 crore. The company is now looking for revenue of around Rs1,100-1,200 crore by FY27.
According to company sources, the brand’s unit economics had always been robust, with individual products generating healthy margins from the outset. However, since the company expanded aggressively across geographies and categories, its fixed costs grew, driven by investments in infrastructure, facilities and organisational growth. That was why margins were not visible at the EBITDA level. From FY24, the company accelerated growth, ensuring that operating leverage would begin to take effect. This means that once fixed costs are absorbed, every additional sales rupee accelerates profits, which in turn lifted EBITDA growth.
Expanding footprint
As part of its next growth phase, iD Fresh is looking to build on its momentum through deeper penetration across domestic and international markets, new product innovations, accelerated channel expansion, and increasing consumer preference for fresh, convenient, clean-label food solutions.
iD Fresh was created to make fresh, preservative-free, traditionally prepared Indian food available at scale. From its origins supplying idli/dosa batter to local retailers, the company pioneered a daily, direct-to-retailer cold-chain model that enables clean-label fresh products with a refrigerated shelf life of 5-7 days. Driven by strong consumer demand, iD Fresh has scaled to more than 50 cities across India and the Gulf region and today employs nearly 2,400 people. The company also has a presence in the US and UK markets.
The company that started its journey as a modest partnership firm operating from a 50-sq ft space with two grinders, a mixer and a sealing machine in Indiranagar, Bengaluru, by Musthafa and his four cousins – Shamsudeen TK, Abdul Nazer, Jafar TK and Noushad TD – is today India’s largest ready-to-cook fresh food brand and the category leader in branded batter and Indian flatbreads, with an estimated 50-60 per cent share in its core categories.
Its portfolio includes idli/dosa batter, Indian flatbreads (Malabar parotas, chapatis), accompaniments such as chutneys and sambar, and value-added dairy products. In the past 18 months or so, the company has expanded its product line aggressively from 13-14 SKUs to more than 35, fuelled by new category launches and premium extensions within existing lines. iD Fresh has entered the speciality batter segment with the launch of protein idli dosa batter, ragi millet idli dosa batter, multi-grain idli dosa batter, and Mallige idli batter. The company has also entered the organic idli and dosa batter segment.
iD Fresh is also into home-style wheat paratha, Malabar parota, wheat lachha paratha and wheat chapati. The portfolio also comprises traditional South Indian filter coffee decoction, soft and creamy paneer, creamy thick curd, butter sticks and frozen fruit pulp. The company’s latest invention, iD squeeze-and-fry vada batter, has been commended across the globe for its innovation.
The company has modern manufacturing facilities located in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Ajman in the UAE. iD Fresh manufactures around 1,70,000 kg of idli/dosa batter every day and delivers it to more than 45,000 retail outlets. The company is also looking to set up manufacturing facilities in Ahmedabad and Saudi Arabia as it looks to expand its footprint further in newer markets within India and overseas.
iD Fresh has been awarded certifications from the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Jaivik Bharat, under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
“We take pride in the fact that we make our product in a kitchen and not in a laboratory. The USP is our home-grown manufacturing style, in ultra-hygienic factories that follow best-in-class manufacturing processes, using state-of-the-art equipment. For the 2,400+ team at iD Fresh, the mission is to make the preparation of home-made meals a pleasure, to ensure that healthy food doesn’t become a casualty in the maddening rush of everyday life. Because food is not just for the body, but also for the mind and soul,” says a company official.
Aggressive intent
In the last few years, the company has shown its aggressive intent in a favourable marketplace where demand for healthy ready-to-cook foods has surged significantly. It adopted a two-pronged expansion strategy with focus and discipline. iD Fresh started as a mono-product business, selling only idli-dosa batter for the initial few years. But it gradually widened its reach across new markets and product categories. As it widened its portfolio, it also moved from South to North and entered foreign territories to serve the Indian diaspora.
The company recently entered 11 new cities in northern India and plans to expand to 100 local and global destinations by 2027. Going forward, the brand plans to focus on newer cities with strong modern trade networks. Currently, India is its biggest revenue earner, while Dubai leads international sales, followed by Saudi Arabia. As far as the product portfolio is concerned, idli/dosa batter continues to be the company’s flagship category, with more than 45 per cent contribution to revenue.
Experts are of the view that, especially in perishable food categories with a short shelf life of 4-7 days, the factors that primarily drive user acquisition and retention are product quality, channel availability, category innovation, and new customer acquisition. iD Fresh has been one of the early movers in its operating markets, building reach across general trade, modern retail, e-commerce and quick commerce.
“Even as we have been in the business for quite some time now, it’s the last 6-7 years when we have witnessed significant traction. Covid was a big boon for us as more people looked for fresh and healthy foods in their households. Modern trade, particularly quick commerce, played a big role in our progression since we deal with perishable categories. We were the first in India to promote authentic Indian foods that are 100 per cent natural and preservative-free. The team’s clarity on the brand philosophy has helped us evolve from a modest family-run business to a professionally run organisation,” says Musthafa, who is aspiring to build the next Nestlé from India.
“We would like to build the next Nestlé from India. That’s what we’re in the process of doing. That’s the kind of brand that we’re building. In fact, we benchmark everything with Nestlé, to be frank, because it is such a great brand with a great set of products,” he adds.
Musthafa’s journey from humble beginnings in a village to building a leading brand in fresh batter is a powerful story of unwavering passion and resilience in the face of countless challenges. He was born into a humble family in the village of Chennalode in Wayanad. His father was a daily wage labourer. Against all odds, he completed his schooling at the age of 17 and then pursued engineering in computer science at the National Institute of Technology, Calicut. He worked for Motorola for around one and a half years, then went to Saudi Arabia and worked there for Citibank.
After around 6 years, in 2003, Musthafa decided to return to India. He enrolled in and completed his MBA from IIM Bangalore. There, he identified a glaring gap in the market: the absence of hygienic and convenient South Indian breakfast options. This realisation led to a transformative idea. In 2005, along with his four cousins, he started iD Fresh Foods with just Rs50,000. With iD Fresh, his endeavour was to make fresh, home-made food accessible to one and all. Musthafa set an ambitious target of selling 500 packets of batter daily. However, the reality was harsh, and it took nine months to reach that goal.
“Our job was to go to the market every day, buy rice and then come back, clean it, wash it, soak it, grind it, mix it, ferment it, pack it. The next morning, we would go to the market on a second-hand scooty and sell it ourselves. It was a back-breaking job. Our shirts would be soaked in sweat. It was not easy. It took us almost nine months to sell 500 packets a day. We didn’t give up. We were very confident that there was an opportunity for such a product in the market. Today, we serve close to 3 million customers,” recalls the founder.
The first breakthrough came when the idli-dosa batter started selling 2,000 kg daily across 300 stores. It turned iD Fresh Foods into a household name. He even started with the famous Malabar parotas and chapatis. Around the same time, Musthafa expanded the business to 10 new cities near Hyderabad and Mumbai. By 2014, iD Fresh had expanded to Dubai, and the investment from Helion Ventures soon followed, propelling the company to revenues of over Rs100 crore by 2015. It sold over 50,000 kg of batter, 40,000 chapatis and 200,000 parotas daily.
The popularity of its products attracted high-profile investors, including Azim Premji, whose investment of Rs170 crore in 2017 further solidified the company’s position. Under Musthafa’s visionary leadership, iD Fresh Foods diversified into superfoods. It launched products like ragi batter, curd and paneer. An 80,000 sq ft factory was established in Anekal, Bengaluru, significantly boosting production capabilities. By 2023, iD Fresh had achieved a turnover of R500 crore.
Building a leadership team
In fact, the last 3-4 years have been quite eventful for the company as it has significantly ramped up its leadership team and is looking for year-on-year growth of over 25 per cent in the coming years. In January 2024, iD Fresh appointed industry veteran Rajat Diwaker as India CEO, while Musthafa took on the role of Global CEO, strengthening its domestic and global leadership. Diwaker has over two decades of experience in the FMCG industry and, in his last role, served as managing director of Marico Bangladesh.
In April 2025, the company appointed Shobhit Malhotra as CEO – international business to accelerate its global expansion plans. In his new role, Malhotra is responsible for strengthening the company’s footprint in the GCC region, driving market-specific product innovation, forging strategic partnerships, and building robust distribution networks. With over 20 years of experience in the global consumer goods sector, he has held leadership roles at Colgate-Palmolive, Unilever and PepsiCo. He is expected to play a pivotal role in charting iD Fresh’s global journey.
With all these developments in place, the company has positioned itself quite strongly in the ready-to-cook fresh food market, which is witnessing rapid growth driven by rising demand for convenience, urbanisation, dual-income households and evolving lifestyles. The Indian RTC food market size reached $6.65 billion in 2024. Going forward, IMARC Group expects the market to reach $11.88 billion by 2033, exhibiting a CAGR of 6.14 per cent during 2025–2033.
iD Fresh has scripted an inspiring success story in which founders with modest beginnings have built a formidable brand through sheer grit and perseverance. Despite multiple challenges, they maintained their resolve and created a name that is today known for its freshness and quality. From primarily being an idli and dosa batter brand, the company has expanded its product portfolio quite significantly. Simultaneously, it has also expanded its geographical footprint not only within India but overseas. In fact, the last few years have been quite eventful for the company as it scaled up its operations in a major way. However, it remains to be seen how it maintains this momentum going ahead.