The virtual restaurant platform is making a big bet on India’s love for regional cuisine, and investors are eager to join in.
With food-tech companies facing tougher challenges to win investor trust, Dil Foods has managed to stand out. The Bengaluru-based virtual restaurant platform has secured Rs 72 crore in Series B funding, led by the Bikaji Foods Family Office. International funds and returning investors V3 Ventures, MJV Ventures, and Alteria Capital also took part.
With this new funding, the company’s total raised now stands at Rs 113.35 crore, including almost Rs 37.7 crore from its seed and Series A rounds. This steady growth shows that investors believe in a business model that may seem simple at first, but is actually quite complex.
What Dil Foods Actually Does
Dil Foods stands out in the Indian food-tech space for doing something different. Instead of creating another generic cloud kitchen, the company has developed a full virtual restaurant platform that focuses specifically on regional Indian cuisine.
Right now, Dil Foods runs nine regional food brands across six cities, reaching 340 pincodes. This is a big increase since its last funding round. Its brands include a top khichdi brand, a Bihari cuisine option, and a fast-growing chole brand, among others. Instead of trying to cover everything, the company focuses on dishes that have real cultural meaning for Indian consumers—the foods many people grew up with and still miss.
The company has also invested heavily in its infrastructure. Last year, Dil Foods opened what it calls one of Bengaluru’s largest central kitchens, covering more than one lakh square feet. This kind of backend investment shows the company is preparing for real growth, not just appearances.
For investors, the main story is not just the food itself. They are also interested in how efficiently Dil Foods has expanded.
Arjun Vaidya, Founder of V3 Ventures, who backed the company three years ago when it operated from just 30 locations, put it plainly: the roughly 30X scale achieved since then has been paired with what he called “strong capital discipline.” His assessment that Dil Foods is “probably the most capital-efficient business in the cloud kitchen QSR space in India” is a pointed statement in a sector that has historically burned through capital at an alarming rate.
With the new funding, founder Arpita Aditi has set clear targets: 600 locations by FY28 and an annualised revenue run rate of Rs 500 crore. A significant portion of the raised capital will be directed toward reinforcing backend production and supply chain infrastructure — the kind of unglamorous but critical investment that separates companies built to last from those built to pitch.
Why Bikaji Leading This Round Is Important
The lead investor’s identity is important here. Bikaji Foods, one of India’s best-known names in traditional snacks and regional flavors, is bringing its family office into a regional cuisine food-tech company. This move is more than just a financial investment; it is a strategic partnership.
Deepak Agarwal, Managing Director of Bikaji Foods International, called the investment “especially meaningful.” He pointed to a shared passion for regional cuisine and a belief in bringing India’s diverse food culture to more people, more efficiently. Seeing Bikaji as a strategic partner, not just an investor, adds value to this round that money alone cannot provide.
Reframing the Cloud Kitchen Narrative
Mohammed Ali Shariff of Mount Judi Ventures offered an interesting view on this funding round. He disagreed with calling Dil Foods just a cloud kitchen company. “This isn’t a cloud kitchen play,” he said. “It’s a distributed virtual brand network built on infrastructure that already exists.”
This difference is important. In recent years, cloud kitchens have faced criticism about their unit economics, scalability, and ability to stand out. Shariff describes Dil Foods as a platform with a stronger advantage. It uses the restaurant industry’s inefficiencies to grow quickly while staying focused on profitability.
The Bigger Trend
Dil Foods is betting on a bigger change in how people in Indian cities eat. As more customers order food online, the demand for regional, home-style dishes has grown. Foods like khichdi, chole, and Bihari thali are not just novelties; they are comfort foods that mean a lot to many people. For a large part of India’s urban population, being able to get these dishes easily and often is truly valuable.
If Dil Foods can keep growing while staying as efficient as it has so far, reaching 600 locations may be more realistic than it first seems.
