Khazanah Nasional Berhad invests USD42 million into Wow! Momo

Wow! Momo Foods, the operator of Wow! Momo, Wow! China and Wow! Chicken has raised over INR 350 crores from Khazanah Nasional Berhad (“Khazanah”), the sovereign wealth fund of Malaysia. The investment will be made through both primary infusion and secondary purchase from early-stage investors, the Indian Angel Network (“IAN”) and Lighthouse Funds.

In addition, the company’s existing investor, OAKS Asset Management, has also infused INR 60 crores of additional funding into Wow! Momo Foods.

Commenting on the announcement, Sagar Daryani, chief executive officer and co-founder, Wow! Momo Foods said, “There is no greater joy for a founder than giving its initial investors (Indian Angel Network (IAN) and Lighthouse Funds) great partial exits. For us, the Bharat Story has just begun with a huge headway of growth. With Khazanah’s investment into the business and their long-term approach, we will strive to become the powerhouse of innovation and transformation in the food space while keeping a strong balance between sustainability, growth and backing breakthroughs."

Dato’ Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir, managing director, Khazanah, said, “We are excited to be on the journey with Wow! Momo in their mission to build the largest QSR brand in India. We aim to encourage the growth of Wow! Momo through enhanced scalability, technological fortification, and focusing on building a strong back-end capability to support its growth.”

Vishal Ootam, founder and chief executive officer of OAKS Asset Management, said, “In our journey with investments in other F&B brands, we have realised that long-term thinking and dynamic leadership are essential. We feel that Wow! Momo has both. We feel that Wow! Momo will not only gain dominance in the domestic market but also be the first globalized QSR company from India. We are ready to scale with the brand.”

Launched in August 2008, Wow! Momo Foods is a multi-billion-rupee quick service restaurant (QSR) chain with more than 630 outlets in over 35 cities. It has a robust expansion plan of over 200 outlets in the coming fiscal year and steadfast growth of its FMCG business.

The primary fund will fuel the growth and expansion of the quick service restaurant (QSR) brand and help to strengthen the distribution foothold and research and development (R&D) for the FMCG arm. The entire round is a testimony to the brand’s vision, scalability, and rigor on profitability.

Wow! Momo, together with Wow! China and Wow! Chicken's aim is to enter more than 100 cities and look at a footprint of over 1500 stores in the next three years. The brand is also expanding across various touchpoints in FMCG with over 1200 retail outlet presence across more than 50 cities in modern trade and quick commerce with its ready-to-eat momos and along with new path-breaking product launches lined-up in the coming fiscal year.

In the transaction, Investec acted as the financial advisors to Wow! Momo. With this latest round; Wow! Momo Foods has bought back Indian QSR to the map of formidable, & scalable businesses. Hunger for growth, strong muscle of right people and most importantly sustained control over unit economics is what makes Wow! Momo story a delectable portion of real growth story. Made in India; made by India.