Sixth Sense Ventures Invests $10 M In RTE Company ADF Foods
ADF Foods | July 4, 2022

This coupled with the Indian Government’s thrust to incentivise local manufacturing as a part of a PLI scheme has given a fillip to the food processing sector

ADF Foods is disrupting the $450B Global RTE market by focusing on ethnic food shelves across the world. The strong macroeconomic tailwinds driven by growing Indian diaspora worldwide, westernization of ethnic food, increased shift to nuclear families & increasing work hours are propelling category growth. This coupled with the Indian Government’s thrust to incentivise local manufacturing as a part of a PLI scheme has given a fillip to the food processing sector. ADF is a leading manufacturer & exporter of 8 privately owned RTE food brands offering frozen food, spices, condiments, pastes, sauces, etc. In their 50+ yrs of operations, they have setup 3 manufacturing facilities (capacity of 28,000MT), created a distribution network of 180+ distributors & established presence in 50+ countries. They have further strengthened their distribution network by adding Patanjali Ayurved Limited & Unilever product offerings across US, UK & Western Europe. The company has BIMAL THAKKAR at the helm, as chairman, MD & CEO. He has been instrumental in several of ADF’s brand launches, new market expansions, international acquisitions & setting up international subsidiaries. With a CAGR of over 20pc, the business has generated revenues of Rs420crs in FY22, healthy ~15% EBITDA and ~11% PAT. Bimal Thakkar, MD & CEO ADF FOODS LTD., said, “  We are pleased to welcome Nikhil Vora & his team at Sixth Sense Ventures in our growth journey. Our Company is at an inflection point with multiple growth levers & is uniquely positioned to offer a compelling value proposition to the growing Indian diaspora. Nikhil is a stalwart when it comes to investing in consumer driven companies & while this is a secondary investment, ADF Foods will benefit greatly from his knowledge & understanding of this space.”
Nikhil Vora from Sixth Sense Ventures commented, “Our investment in ADF FOODS LTD. is in sync with our investment philosophy of betting on first generation founders, disrupting large category ($450B Global RTE market) for the consumers of tomorrow (Ethnic food for Indian diaspora worldwide). ADF’s unique proposition of focusing on ethnic foods in growing western markets, coupled with distribution synergies by offering Unilever & Patanjali products in US unlocks immense opportunities. Our partnership with ADF underpins our belief over their strong business economics, execution capabilities & astute leadership. We are excited to partner with BIMAL THAKKAR & team as they create a niche for themselves in the global RTE market.” Swati Mehra, CFA Rishita Wadher, Nimisha Nagarsekar, Ketki Paranjpe, Kathan Shah, Saloni Ghatnekar, Siddhant Sanghvi, Sohail Manjiramani, Peyush Trehan, Rhea Vijoy