New Delhi, Nov. 27 -- Dairy ingredients firm Ace International Ltd has raised $35 million (around Rs 312.3 crore) in its first external funding round from Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden NV (FMO), responsAbility, Incofin, and Fiedlin Ventures.
VCCircle had exclusively reported early this year that Ace was raising a large funding round, with FMO leading the mop-up.
The company plans to use the capital to set up a greenfield, fully integrated dairy ingredients and advanced nutrition manufacturing complex in Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh. The facility will use dairy nutrition processing technology that the company claims is being introduced in Asia for the first time.
Ace said the upcoming unit will be among a handful of such facilities globally, capable of producing bespoke, high-performance nutrition ingredients for global food and nutrition brands.
The plant will be designed to manufacture customized ingredients catering to categories such as infant and clinical nutrition, sports and performance nutrition, nutraceuticals, medical foods, beverages and confectionery.
"We've built ACE around one belief-that innovation in food technology can drive both better business outcomes and better nutrition for all. With this investment, we're ready to take that vision global," said Sanjeev Goyal, founder and chairman, Ace.
Founded over 30 years ago, the company has grown as a B2B supplier of food, dairy derivatives and specialized nutrition ingredients, remaining largely self-funded through promoter capital and operational cash flows. It services multiple product segments such as nutraceuticals, infant and sports nutrition, medical foods, beverages, and confectionery.
ResponsAbility's investment director Akshay Dua said, "ACE has an impressive mix of decades-long pedigree in raising India's nutrition industry to global standards, not just being cost-competitive, but also with an unwavering commitment to sustainability, carbon neutrality, and responsible sourcing."
"This approach reflects our philosophy as an impact investor and we are excited to partner with the founders to further our common aim to keep driving sectoral transformation and deliver measurable social and environmental outcomes," Dua added.
Inval Capital acted as the exclusive advisor to the transaction.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.