Milk Mantra raises Rs 66.5 crore from Neev fund, other existing investors

Odisha-based dairy startup Milk Mantra Dairy has raised about Rs 66.5 crore in series-D funding led by State Bank of India backed Neev Fund, along with co-investment from existing investors Eight Roads Ventures and Aavishkaar.
This is the first round of funding raised by the company after it mopped up about Rs 80 crore from Eight Roads and Aavishkaar in June 2014. That transaction had a mix of primary and secondary components, which saw the exit of the firm’s angel investors, with Aavishkaar also selling the stake held by its previous fund, Aavishkaar India Micro Venture Capital.
Odisha-based Milk Mantra, whose products include milk, buttermilk, curd and milk shakes under the Milky Moo brand, will be using the latest round of funding to expand operations. The company will look to acquire select high-quality dairy businesses in east India in the near future.
As a part of this round, Ambalika Banerjee from Neev Fund and Dhyanesh Shah from Eight Roads will join the board of Milk Mantra, in addition to existing directors Noshir Colah from Aavishkaar and Kabir Narang from Eight Roads, and independent director Suresh Senapaty, a former chief financial officer of Wipro Ltd.