Cloud-kitchen brands woo investors; attracts funding to expand businesses

“The Indian food service delivery market is expected to more than double to $13 billion (Rs 93,600 crore) by fiscal 2023 from $5.2 billion (Rs 37,440 crore) in fiscal 2020,” shared a report by.

And, with more and more people staying at home and dining-in becoming the new dining-out, cloud-kitchen or the delivery business in India is estimated to grow five times bigger in next five years.

With no physical presence, less commercial involvement and working as an internet restaurant wherein you can get the food delivered at the comfort of your home, cloud-kitchen segment is projected to become a $2 billion industry in India by 2024, as per a report by RedSeer Management Consulting. Not only this, as per survey, 21% of the respondents said they were more likely to increase their online ordering of takeaway food after the lockdown, while just 9% said they were more likely to visit restaurants more often.

Looking at this opportunity, investors are pouring their money in the fastest growing segment during such a pandemic.

Ahmedabad-based cloud-kitchen startup Rolling Plates that offers ‘Ahmedabadi Biryani’, has raised USD 150K in its Pre-seed fund round from US-based investment firm EXL Investment LLC.

With this Pre-seed fund raise it is planning to expand in the tier two cities with its 'Delivery-Only' business model, focusing on west Indian market before venturing into the other territories.

“Being a food-tech startup our priority is to build a strong and sound technology that can enhance our online ordering experience and logistics capabilities. Going forward we would create a robust data analytics framework that can improve the way we work and the kind of food that we serve to our customers,” shared Shihab Sheikh, Co-founder, Rolling Plates.

In the next phase after strengthening the foothold in India, Rolling Plates plans to venture into The United States as its first global market. Rolling Plates is also in talks for a JV with a Tanzania based food delivery and logistics startup to expand in the African Market. Apart from its flagship brand 'Ahmedabadi Biryani' that offers authentic local taste of biryani, the startup also operates two other virtual restaurant brands - The Mughal Treat (A main course Indian, Mughlai & BBQ delivery brand) and Brunch'O' (Snacks & Breakfast delivery brand).

“The startup not only has the potential to grow in India and but also mark overseas due to the unique taste of ‘Ahmedabad Biryani’. It has high potential to grow in The United States, where there is a large chunk of Indian and Asian diaspora,” said Sadaf Mansuri Founder of EXL Investment LLC.

Founded in 2018, by husband-wife duo, Shihab Sheikh and Falaknaz Sheikh consciously chose to curate the authentic traditional ‘Ahmedabadi Biryani’ recipe with the sole purpose to propagate the unique taste of local sumptuous biryani found only within the walled city of Ahmedabad, still prepared by the Mughal era’s old-fashioned traditional cooks called ‘Bhatiyaras (cooks)’.

Similarly, Nino Foods earlier Francesco’s Pizzeria has raised $125,000 from Silicon Valley-based startup accelerator Y Combinator. Started by Nishant Jhaveri and Pranav Mehra a year ago by converting it to a delivery-only venture, today they also run a burger brand under Nino Burger.

The brand is also planning to launch their third brand in a few weeks.

As per Nino Foods that is focusing on the premium segment where average order value accounts for Rs 400 and above.

“We built our second brand, Nino burgers, to prove to ourselves that we could create a food brand that people love. We used data for some decisions and went with our gut on others. Being outsiders to the food industry but lifelong food lovers, we were able to take a more customer-centric approach. We experiment often, iterate quickly, and want to build a category-defining company with global impact," said Nishant Jhaveri, Co-Founder, Nino Foods.

They are also aiming to enter three cities by next year.

Also, as we have seen home dining trend rising with more and more people eating at home. End to end kitchen aide ChefKart that plans, shops and cooks for you in your home kitchen by providing trained and verified home cooks who create perfectly hygienic meals suited best to your taste, at the comfort of your palms.

The Gurgaon-based startup has bagged $300,000 in Pre-Seed Funding from Titan Capital, Pravega Ventures, Lead Angels and others.

ChefKart has served over 500 customers even during COVID times and managed to grow 50 per cent m-o-m. Since its inception, the brand has on-boarded 2200 service professionals covering almost the entire Gurugram.

“People see COVID as an opportunity loss but it has proved to be a blessing in disguise for us as people have realized the importance of home-cooked food. I believe we have the right set of investors who betted on the right set of people to solve the daily problem of managing a kitchen," said Vaibhav Gupta, CEO and Co-founder, ChefKart.

It is planning to use the funds to develop a product that can help users manage end-to-end kitchen needs, upskilling and training of cooks to make them more professionals, acquiring more customers and chefs on the platform, and scaling up the business in Noida.