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Third Wave Coffee Roasters, a coffee quick-service restaurant (QSR) run by Heisetasse Beverages in Bengaluru, has raised $6 million in its series A funding round.

Founded by Ayush Bathwal, Anirudh Sharma and Sushant Goel in 2017, Third Wave Coffee Roasters offers locally-sourced coffee brews and curated food and beverages.

In the past 12 months, it has expanded from 10 stores to 35 outlets in four cities, namely Bangalore, Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad. It plans to start operations in Mumbai.

Third Wave Coffee Roasters’ series A round saw participation from existing investors Ayyappan Rajagopal, CEO of Cleartrip, and Sujeet Kumar, Co-founder of Udaan, and new investors like Arpan Sheth, Senior Partner of Bain and Company.

The funds raised in the current round will be used for pan-India expansion and to hire a leadership team from top QSR brands, according to a Third Wave Coffee Roasters press release.

“We aim to disrupt the coffee space by breaking the monotony of the usual flavours with globally-influenced coffee and food pairings that match the palate of the modern, discerning Indian consumer,” said Sushant Goel, Co-founder and CEO, Third Wave Coffee.

The Series A round comes months after its pre-Series A in April, when it raised capital from Nikhil Kamath, Co-founder of Zerodha, Neelesh Bhatnagar, Managing Director of NB Ventures, apart from Sujeet and Ayyappan.

The company sources coffee from local farmers in different estates across India during the harvest season to acquire various samples of coffee beans.

Third Wave Coffee Roasters have focused on the ‘micro-roasteries’ approach to enable a source-to-cup experience. Essentially, it avoids roasting large quantities of coffee beans and storing them for months.

“We roast our coffee in small batches, and make sure it is consumed within a week,” Sushant, who previously worked with McKinsey & Co in the US, had told YourStory in August 2019.

“That way, it tastes the best and all the flavours and subtleties are preserved.” A great cup of coffee is freshly roasted, brewed at perfect temperature with an ideal water-to-coffee ratio.

Third Wave Coffee claims to have significant market share in key markets like Delhi and Bangalore. It has focused on providing local and international offerings in coffee and food through offline-first stores to create a range of specially curated coffees, baked goods and food, the press release added.