Salad Days secures ₹30 cr in Series A funding led by V3 Ventures and CAAF | Company Business News-OxBig News Network

Restaurant and cloud kitchen brand Salad Days has raised ₹30 crore in Series A funding round co-led by V3 Ventures and Client Associates Alternate Fund (CAAF) in its maiden funding round.

This marks the company’s first institutional funding round after operating as a bootstrapped venture for over 10 years.

Salad Days was started in 2014 Delhi-NCR by Varun Madan—it sells salads, oatmeal bowls, soups, cold-pressed juices, smoothies, and desserts; it operates through cloud kitchens and its own outlets.

The company’s business benefited from an uptick in demand for healthy food post pandemic. This prompted Madan to expand beyond Delhi-NCR and open up in markets such as Bengaluru in 2023; in 2024 it opened up in Mumbai.

Expansion strategy

“With the current fund-raise, the idea is to support out future expansion. We got some learnings in the last three years. We would further accelerate the opening of our cloud kitchens; in six to nine months we will look at more formats also and drive subscriptions,” said Madan, founder & CEO, Salad Days. 

Future expansion will be led by cloud kitchens. “We should add between 15 to 20 kitchens per annum,” he said in a virtual interview with Mint. Salad Days also operates an organic farm for fresh produce in Delhi.

The company currently operates through a network of 25 cloud kitchens, with 12 outlets in Delhi-NCR, 9 in Bengaluru, and 4 in Mumbai. “Profitability remains an important lever for us. We would definitely want to get into new cities but the focus is to grow in existing markets,” he said.

The Indian food services market was valued at $80 billion in 2024; it is expected to report a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10-11% through 2030, according to a report released by Redseer Strategy Consultancy this week. 

The market already sees the participation of large global chains such as Pizza Hut, Domino’s, Burger King and McDonald’s. Meanwhile, the proliferation of aggregators such as Swiggy and Zomato has also helped expand the market.

“The plug-and-play model of cloud kitchens facilitates scalability, with new brands reaching ₹100 crore revenue in as little as 2-3 years, significantly faster than the 6-10 years typically taken by dine-in-focused brands,” said Rohan Agarwal, partner, Redseer Strategy Consultancy.

The move signals investor interest in niche restaurant segments such as desserts and now salads that can be scaled nationally. 

In the last three-to-five years or post-covid demand for healthy food is more “genuine”, Madan, a former consultant, said. The category is growing faster than the overall food services market, he added. Investor focus on profitability has also returned. 

Arjun Vaidya, co-founder and managing partner, V3 Ventures, said India is changing the way food is eaten and Salad Days caters to this new theme perfectly. V3 Ventures is the venture capital arm of Belgian investment company Verlinvest.

The organized restaurant segment, which currently accounts for about half of the market, is outpacing the unorganized sector, driven by the growth of online food delivery and an influx of branded food options. Urban consumers, especially in metro and tier-I cities, are increasingly opting for ordering in and dining out, according to Redseer.

Salad Days currently sells through its website, centralised phone lines and major food aggregators including Swiggy, Zomato, and ONDC.