to build a business in and create a brand says daryani giving a peek into what was his thinking back then daryanis conviction was vindicated further last month when tiger global management invested rs 130 crore in the company at postmoney valuation of rs 860 crore the investment wouldnt have raised too many eyebrows given tiger managements prolific dealmaking pace in india it has invested 300400 million in 1215 months but what stood out this time was that the new yorkbased investment powerhouse which has a strong track record of investing in ventures underpinned by technology was investing in a quick service restaurant chain that ran brickandmortar stores it was its first such private investment in not just india but possibly globallythe interesting bit however is daryani and homagais decision to create a brand around momos the ubiquitous tibetan snack in kolkata no restaurant chain had ever attempted to sell or market it as a completely separate category leave aside creating branding awareness around it i think we have managed to do that create an altogether new category for consumers every mall that comes up are now signing up a dominos kfc and a wow momo outlet daryani saidearlier this year it also launched wow china its second flagship brand with plans of potentially launching a third brand over the next few years the broader plan is to create an indian equivalent of usbased panda express which serves american chinese cuisine or wok to walkdaryani has given no reason for early investors to be unhappy indian angel network the first investor in wow momo has already earned rs 40 crore from its cumulative rs 14 crore investment in the company it continues to hold a stake in the company sachin bahrtiya partner at lighthouse funds an investor in wow momo says for any business to succeed the concept has to be right wow momo got it right in terms of saleablity and scaleability the cofounders have a very disciplined approach toward expansion capital is for earning and not for burning and investors love thatdaryani says we feel we have cracked the qsr code in india we want to become a foodtech company but not by being an ecommerce company by building cloud kitchens essentially a clickandmortar modelsrikanth bolla 28 founder ceo bollant industries hyderabadby cr sukumar suman layakhumble startthe beginning born to farmer parents in machilipatnam was allowed to study science only after a court battle was not allowed to sit for entrance exams for indian engineering coursesstepping stone getting through to mit after not being allowed to appear for iit and other institutes entrance examsfirst capital rs 65 lakh from ravi mantha in 2014success story raising rs 15 cr from investors such as ratan tata and satish reddyturnover rs 82 crfor srikanth bolla the son of poor farmers from machilipatnam andhra pradesh challenges in life started at birth his parents were first cousins and bolla wonders aloud if that was why he has