DSG Consumer invests in Tierra Food

Singapore-based venture capital fund, DSG Consumer Partners, has invested an undisclosed sum in Tierra Food India Private Limited, a fast-growing food processing and ethnic snack food company based out of Kochi. This is the first time that an overseas venture capital fund has invested in a Kerala-based snack food manufacturing company.

Alex Thomas, managing director of Tierra Food, said that the company was planning to utilise the funds to scale up its operations, including expanding its sales network, increasing consumer promotion spends, introducing innovative products and for market research and development.

Tierra Food, which currently has a retail outlet network of 30,000 in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. has planned an investment of Rs 10 crore in the next 12 months, he told Business Standard.

Tierra has launched its cassava chips brand Kappo and banana chips brand Banano in Kerala in May 2012.

The company has a production facility spread over 20,000 sft with a capacity to process 20,000 kg of cassava and banana per day. The factory was set up in the KINFRA Food Processing Park at Adoor in Pathanamthitta district with an investment of Rs 15 crore. It started commercial production in May 2012.

It has launched its products in selected cities of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andaman in May 2013. Alex said that the company had been receiving enquiries from importers of food products from countries like Australia, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and from the Gulf region.