I made my 1st consumer brand investment this year - Boba Bhai which is India’s 1st QSR chain focused on Korean foods.
At first, I was quite skeptical - but, Arjun (Dr Vaidya's founder) got me over the line with the decision. And, he was ON POINT:
(1) The founder, Dhruv, has built & sold multiple QSR businesses. His vision is MUCH bigger than Korean foods; it is a starting point for him to bring multiple foreign cuisines into India (with a local twist)
(2) Despite being a very small investor, I was shocked when Dhruv got on the phone for half an hour to walk me thru the vision, plan & his motivations. Very impressed by this!
(3) The business has taken off like a rocket ship: In ≤ 1 year, Boba Bhai has crossed ₹24 crore annualized revenue from 25 outlets
✅This is a case of strong customer love: I regularly have friends sent me photos of Boba Bhai:
(a) Their stall at the Ed Sheeran concert in Mumbai
(b) Their co-branded features with Zomato in leading newspapers
(c) Their product being consumed
💰Boba Bhai announced its ₹12.5 crore Seed round led by Titan Capital with participation from Marsshot VC (RazorPay founders fund), DeVC, 1947 Rise Fund & Peercheque.
I believe the team will build a category defining company in QSR over the rest of this decade.
➡️Do try Boba Bhai via Swiggy/Zomato or by walking up to a store near you (in BLR or Udaipur)!

Fun fact: One of Boba Bhai's earliest outlets was in Udaipur - a strange choice. But, Dhruv wanted to convince everyone that the products would move even in a non-metro city (and, that store is profitable today!)
At the time of investment, I wrote a memo which you can read here: rahulmathur.notion.site