Mumbai-based pizza chain Cheelizza has raised Rs 4.11 crore in a seed round led by Indian Angel Network (IAN) investors Hari Balasubramanian, Uday Chatterjee, Deval Tibrewal and Rajeev Sarda.

Co-Investor Sagar Daryani, Founder of Wow! Momo, Ghost Kitchens founder Karan Tanna and international fund head Rahul Surana also participated in the round.

The chain already operates ten stores in Mumbai and Gujarat. With the new funding, it will focus on expanding its presence in Mumbai, opening 20 new stores over the next 12 months. It is also expanding its team, hiring for senior leadership positions in business, operations, human resources and marketing, and recruiting more than 100 team members for its first-line store operations.

Founded in 2013, Cheelizza is the brainchild of Animesh Lodha, who left his job at Edelweiss to embark on this entrepreneurial journey.

Hari Balasubramanian, Chief Investor of IAN, said: “Cheelizza is a unique vegan brand with a vision to be a global vegan platform serving customers around the world. Animesh and his team are motivated people, and we are very confident they will be able to build A portfolio of vegan brands to become a category leader in the QSR space.”