Brands
Hocco crosses Rs 530cr revenue in two years
Sauce.vc-led Rs 100cr raise values ice cream brand at Rs 2,500cr pre-money as quick commerce hits 20 per cent of sales.
MUMBAI: Hocco has just scooped a seriously sweet milestone crossing the Rs 530 crore revenue mark in just two full years of operations. The fast-growing Indian ice cream and indulgence brand announced it has raised Rs 100 crore in fresh capital led by Sauce.vc. The round values the company at Rs 2,500 crore pre-money and underscores investor confidence in its rapid scale and distinctive India-first approach.
Founder Ankit Chona said the brand’s success stems from solving real Indian challenges extreme summer heat, fragmented cold chains and culturally rooted tastes. “In India, product development doesn’t end in the lab. It only ends when it survives the street,” he noted. This philosophy has produced viral hits such as Aamchi mango ice cream, BIX cake-sponge sandwiches, the Oh cone and culturally relevant collaborations like Haldiram’s Barfi and festive Modak specials.
Hocco currently operates manufacturing facilities in Ahmedabad and Panipat with a production capacity of approximately 3 lakh litres per day, running near full capacity in peak season. The fresh capital will help expand this to around 4.5 lakh litres per day.
Quick commerce has emerged as a major growth engine, now contributing ~20 per cent of overall business and growing nearly 2x year-on-year. The channel has boosted product discovery, increased consumption frequency and helped extend ice cream beyond its traditional seasonal limits.
Sauce.vc founder Manu Chandra said, “At Sauce, we believe that when you chance upon an outlier business, you double down with stronger conviction. We see Hocco as just that.”
With a strong innovation pipeline, deeper distribution and continued focus on cultural relevance, Hocco is entering its third year aiming to capture even more mind space and market share. In a category long dominated by legacy players, this young brand is proving that the coolest way to win is to build for India’s realities, one scoop, one street and one satisfied craving at a time.
Brands
UK’s OnlyFans seeks US investor at $3bn valuation after owner’s death
The adult video platform is seeking stability after the death of its billionaire owner
LONDON: OnlyFans is looking for a new partner. The London-based adult video platform is in advanced talks to sell a minority stake of less than 20 per cent to Architect Capital, a San Francisco-based investment firm, in a deal that would value the business at more than $3bn (£2.2bn).
The move is driven by an urgent need for stability. Leonid Radvinsky, the Ukrainian-American billionaire who owned OnlyFans, died of cancer last month at the age of 43, leaving the future of one of Britain’s most profitable privately held businesses suddenly uncertain.
The choice of Architect Capital is not arbitrary. The firm has deep expertise in financial services, which aligns neatly with OnlyFans’ ambitions to offer banking products to its creators, many of whom have long struggled to access basic financial services because of the nature of their work.
The numbers behind OnlyFans are, by any measure, staggering. The platform posted revenues of $1.4bn in the year to 30th November 2024, with a pre-tax profit of $684m, up four per cent on the prior year. Payments to creators totalled $7.2bn over the same period, a rise of nearly ten per cent. Radvinsky personally collected $701m in dividends from the business in 2024 alone, on top of more than $1bn in such payments he had already received. The platform, run through its parent company Felix International, hosts 4.6m creator accounts, with performers keeping 80 per cent of subscription proceeds and the platform pocketing the remaining 20 per cent. It has 377m fan accounts in total.
The current minority stake talks represent a notable scaling back of ambitions. In January, OnlyFans was reported to be in discussions with Architect about selling a majority stake of 60 per cent. Before that, the company had explored a sale to a consortium led by Forest Road Company, a Los Angeles-based investment firm. Neither deal materialised.
OnlyFans has built an enormously lucrative business on content that mainstream finance has long refused to touch. Now, with its owner gone and a $3bn valuation on the table, it is looking for the kind of respectable institutional backing that might finally persuade the banks to take its calls.
