Wah! Puchka Wah! Litti, a promising homegrown quick service restaurant (QSR) startup based in Kolkata, has successfully raised $230,000 (approximately Rs 2 crore) in a strategic funding round. The investment came from Sagar Daryani, co-founder and CEO of Wow! Momo, Abhishek Rungta, co-founder of Dot & Key, and a group of global angel investors. This fresh capital injection aims to fuel the brand’s aggressive expansion and operational scaling plans across India.
Transforming India’s Iconic Street Food into a Modern QSR Experience
Founded by Deepak Kumar, Wah! Puchka Wah! Litti is on a mission to revolutionize beloved Indian street snacks like Puchkas and Litti-Chokha by presenting them in a hygienic, scalable, and modern quick-service restaurant format. The startup retains the authentic street flavor that customers cherish while ensuring contemporary food safety and consistency standards that are essential for organized retail.
Currently, Wah! Puchka Wah! Litti operates 18 thriving outlets in Kolkata, serving over 200,000 happy customers. The brand enjoys strong consumer loyalty, supported by excellent ratings on popular food delivery platforms like Swiggy and Zomato. In addition to physical outlets, the company recently launched its own direct-to-consumer (D2C) online platform, wahfoods.com, offering home deliveries of fresh Puchkas and Litti-Chokha within 30 minutes.
Scaling Up: Ambitious Growth Plans for the Next Two Years
The newly raised funds will be utilized to:
Open 19 additional outlets in Kolkata to deepen market penetration.
Strengthen and expand the core leadership and operational teams.
Build robust backend systems to support rapid scaling.
Target a milestone of expanding to 100 outlets spread across six major metro cities in India within the next two years.
Sagar Daryani, investing in his personal capacity, commented, “Wah! Puchka Wah! Litti is giving India’s desi street food a bold upgrade — authentic, hygienic, and built to scale.”
Capturing the Untapped $20 Billion Street Food Opportunity in India
India’s online food services market is on a strong growth trajectory, expected to double to $8 billion soon. However, organized QSR chains represent less than half of the nation’s dining-out spend. The vast street food sector, primarily unorganized and valued at over $20 billion, remains a largely untapped market ripe for formalization and scale.
Wah! Puchka Wah! Litti aims to unlock this opportunity by formalizing local street food favorites and replicating the success model of iconic brands like Haldiram’s. Through standardization, hygiene, and trust, the startup intends to build India’s most recognizable and loved desi street food brand on a modern QSR platform.
In Talks for Next Growth Stage Funding
The company is actively engaging with strategic partners and institutional investors for its upcoming funding rounds to support further expansion and innovation initiatives.
Indian Startup Ecosystem Witnesses Continued Growth in Food QSR Segment
The success of Wah! Puchka Wah! Litti highlights the growing investor confidence in desi food startups that combine cultural authenticity with modern business practices. This funding round led by influential entrepreneurs like Sagar Daryani is a strong vote of confidence for the startup’s vision to reshape India’s street food landscape and scale a beloved culinary experience nationwide.