ETtechThe Baker’s Dozen, a direct-to-consumer (D2C) bakery brand, has raised $5 million in a mix of debt and equity, led by Fireside Ventures.
The company declined to disclose its valuation after the funding round.
Part of the amount raised will also be used for expanding its bakery capacity.
Co-founder Sneh Jain told ET that the company has seen sales grow 5x to Rs 30 crore in FY22 as it made significant headway online through ecommerce marketplaces like Amazon and BigBasket and also through quick commerce companies like Swiggy.
“There was no real national brand especially if you talk about breads and cakes at slightly higher quality and premium level,” said Jain. “You have your Britannia and the Modern Breads of the world at the mass level. On the other hand, you only have a local bakery. So, you will have somebody in your area but not beyond that. That is where we felt this is a gap.”
Founded in 2013 by Jain and wife Aditi Handa, who is the head baker at The Baker’s Dozen, the startup produces sourdough bread, cakes, cookies and crackers from a factory near Ahmedabad.
“I would like to break our journey into two parts - first part is from 2013 to 2019 when it was a lot about understanding the consumer, expanding our product portfolio - we added cakes, cookies, crackers and built the distribution network,” said Jain. “The last two years were when we scaled up with new products and new technology.”
Jain said the reason behind the 5x scaling was because of the changes The Baker’s Dozen brought to its packaging using a technology called modified atmosphere packaging.
It involves altering the atmosphere inside the packet to ensure extended shelf life. It is a common practice in baking across Europe and The Baker’s Dozen is the first to implement this technology in baking in India, Jain said. This increased the shelf life of its products from 1-3 days to 2-3 months.
“Our decision to invest in The Baker's Dozen is backed by our fund thesis of looking for innovative white spaces within the overall D2C products space,” said Prayag Mohanty, principal, Fireside Ventures. “The Baker’s Dozen brings in the packaged version of artisanal bakery products which is addressing a huge market backed by technology innovations around processing and packaging at the backend.”
The company declined to disclose its valuation after the funding round.
It plans to use the money to invest in R&D, hire C-suite level executives, for marketing, expand its distribution network, and in upgrading its technology, which includes demand forecasting.
Part of the amount raised will also be used for expanding its bakery capacity.
Co-founder Sneh Jain told ET that the company has seen sales grow 5x to Rs 30 crore in FY22 as it made significant headway online through ecommerce marketplaces like Amazon and BigBasket and also through quick commerce companies like Swiggy.
“There was no real national brand especially if you talk about breads and cakes at slightly higher quality and premium level,” said Jain. “You have your Britannia and the Modern Breads of the world at the mass level. On the other hand, you only have a local bakery. So, you will have somebody in your area but not beyond that. That is where we felt this is a gap.”
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Founded in 2013 by Jain and wife Aditi Handa, who is the head baker at The Baker’s Dozen, the startup produces sourdough bread, cakes, cookies and crackers from a factory near Ahmedabad.
“I would like to break our journey into two parts - first part is from 2013 to 2019 when it was a lot about understanding the consumer, expanding our product portfolio - we added cakes, cookies, crackers and built the distribution network,” said Jain. “The last two years were when we scaled up with new products and new technology.”
Jain said the reason behind the 5x scaling was because of the changes The Baker’s Dozen brought to its packaging using a technology called modified atmosphere packaging.
It involves altering the atmosphere inside the packet to ensure extended shelf life. It is a common practice in baking across Europe and The Baker’s Dozen is the first to implement this technology in baking in India, Jain said. This increased the shelf life of its products from 1-3 days to 2-3 months.
“Our decision to invest in The Baker's Dozen is backed by our fund thesis of looking for innovative white spaces within the overall D2C products space,” said Prayag Mohanty, principal, Fireside Ventures. “The Baker’s Dozen brings in the packaged version of artisanal bakery products which is addressing a huge market backed by technology innovations around processing and packaging at the backend.”
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