Holachef a Food-tech startup raised Rs 8.95 crore capital

Poshn, an innovative food-tech startup on a mission to simplify the unorganized food supply chain, has announced that it has raised USD 4 million in equity and USD 2 million in debt in a pre-series A funding round held recently. 

The funding led by Prime venture partners and Zephyr Peacock India will help Poshn create the largest distribution network in the food ecosystem.

With that, the company founded by Shashank Singh and Bhuvnesh Gupta has raised around $8 million in equity since its inception in 2020.  

“Poshn has already cemented its position in the wholesale segment over the last three years. With the trust of investing partners and infusion of fresh equity, we aggressively integrate forward and backward in the chain and open foreign/export markets over the next 12 months while growing profitably,” shared Singh.

Poshn is a full-stack food-tech supply chain company taking an integrated approach to solving effectiveness and efficiency in the entire food value chain in phases that include food processing units, wholesale buyers, institutions, general trade, and retailers.

Poshn plans to use the fresh funds to build further its innovative stack of solutions that address the gaps in the system. Besides, it will use the funds to expand the business to global markets with imports/ exports in profitable categories to Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern countries.

Over the past three years, Poshn has experienced remarkable growth while maintaining profitability. The company's revenue has skyrocketed six-fold from FY22 to FY24. Poshn is one of the few startups that have been EBITDA profitable while supporting the growth trajectory. Since its inception, the startup has marked a presence in more than 16 states in India. In 2022, the startup raised  USD 4 million in equity in a seed round with Prime Venture Partner and Zephyr Peacock. Additionally, it has partnered with Banks & NBFCs for its debt requirements. Some notable names include ICICI Bank, Alteria Capital, UCIC, Northern Arc, Blacksoil, and Capsave.

“Poshn has led by being a supply-first company and has meaningfully solved for the B2B food value chain. The company has always been bottom-line focused with a remarkable ROCE and wants to continue expanding that further by going deeper into the supply chain while also pursuing some full-stack vertical integrations. We believe Poshn will be a category-defining company in the coming years, and we are excited to be their partners from day zero,” added a spokesperson from Prime Ventures.

The food supply chain market is over USD 800 billion and is highly fragmented on the supply side. The chain experiences inefficiencies due to a slew of intermediaries or middlemen, poor capacity planning, a lack of predictable demand, and a lack of technology. Poshn is working on bridging these gaps with technology.

“Poshn is using technology to simplify and organize the fragmented food value chain in India. Both buyers and suppliers are adopting Poshn's platform for convenient access to quality products at competitive prices.  We are excited to partner with Shashank and Bhuvnesh,” said Mukul Gulati, Managing Partner, Zephyr Peacock India.
 

Bengaluru-based Curefoods has announced the on-boarding of Avani Davda as one of their board members, today. 

Avani will be serving the company as an independent director. With this appointment, Curefoods aims to strengthen the depth of proficiency and leadership at hand. 

“We are extremely elated to have Avani Davda as one of our board members. This collaboration marks the growth of our team and advisors on the board. Avani’s expertise and years of experience in the F&B industry adds a fresh perspective of thought and direction to the brand and its strategy. I am very happy to have Avani on board and I look forward to a long-term, fruitful association with her towards achieving great success,” shared Ankit Nagori, Founder, Curefoods.

Avani Davda is a seasoned executive having 20 years of experience, and a proven track record in the Food & Beverage industry. An influential personality, Avani currently serves various prestigious brands as an independent director, including companies like Mahindra Logistics and JSW Paints. In addition, she also contributes as a strategic advisor to Bain Advisory Network and has previously served as the Managing Director and CEO of Godrej Nature's Basket Ltd.

Previously, being the first and youngest CEO of Tata Starbucks Limited, Avani was also one of the youngest CEO within the entire Tata Group. Her impactful career reflects the combination of her strategic vision, operational excellence, and her trailblazing spirit.

“It is a great prospect to be on board with one of India’s leading houses of F&B brands, and I thank the team for this opportunity. I am excited to be part of a very dynamic team, and to further unite to make the most of our expertise of the industry. I hope to take the brand to newer heights in the coming year, 2024,” added Davda.

Avani’s association with Curefoods marks a significant milestone for the brand, as the company looks at onboarding more experts on their Leadership board in 2024 and strategize ahead. The company will continue the focus on the brand’s growth, it’s expansion in the offline restaurant category, and the overall IPO Preparedness. 

Avani is the only Indian to have featured in the list of ‘25 most groundbreaking women’ of the Fortune and Food & Wine's list, where people are changing the way we eat, and think about food. 
 

Mumbai-based Freshezy has launched MIGHTY a ready-to-cook and eat range of plant-based protein preparations as an optimal diet for Indian palates and their health.

These preparations are a first of its kind innovation by food tech company -FreshEzy Foodtech Pvt Limited to make every Indian healthier, stronger and mightier one meal at a time.

The wide range of products are artisanal, handcrafted products which cater to the evolving Indian palate. Unlike most plant-based products (PBP) in the market, MIGHTY promises to delight the taste buds while nourishing the body in a convenient and far more accessible manner.

MIGHTY will be available / retailed soon in Mumbai and Pune.

Backed by serial investor Tarun Katial, MIGHTY seeks to fill this very gap with its plant-based, tasty and clean protein product range. 

“Our plant-based products are handmade, high-quality protein extracted from Green Gram, Chickpeas and Peas to cater to a protein-deficient India. Mighty is targeted at the young but busy individual helping them meet their daily protein requirement,” shared Dibyendu Bindal - Founder & CEO, MIGHTY.

For every vegan, the gluten sensitive, the vegetarians, the hard-core meat loving folks, there is an inclusive bunch of products ranging from Indian palate such as Seekh Kebab, Galauti Kebab, Shammi Kebab, Beetroot Cheesy Tikki, Grilled Mock Fish, Samosa, Kachori to International palate such as Zucchini Fritters, Spring Rolls, Momos, Lasagna, Spaghetti Meat and many more.

“India needs to encourage the consumption of protein as a part of a daily diet, which is also in line with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 - to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and SDG 3 - the promotion of good health and wellbeing,” added Bindal.

World’s largest internet restaurant company Rebel Foods has today announced that it has raised USD 175 million in a Series F round led by Qatar Investment Authority (“QIA”), sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar with participation from existing investors Coatue and Evolvence.

This round catapults the company to a unicorn status with a valuation of USD 1.4 billion.

“The food-tech space has evolved towards better personalization, innovation, and complete transparency which Rebel Foods continues to pioneer. We are excited to welcome QIA, which has a track record of being a long-term supportive investor. With this round of funding, we will continue to serve newer customer food missions powered by technology and automation,” said Ravi Golani, Chief Strategy Officer, Rebel Foods.

It operates the largest number of internet restaurants worldwide and on this network, it has built 45+ brands (own + partners) across 10 countries - India, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Philippines and Bangladesh and operates 4000+ internet restaurants.

With the influx of fresh funding, Rebel Foods will continue to focus on growing their international footprint, technology and brand acquisitions.

“While we are excited about becoming the next unicorn, our focus continues to remain on improving customer experience the Rebel way. This round of funding will be re-invested in building our technology, increasing our global presence and also acquiring new brands,” shared Piyush Kakkad, CFO, Rebel Foods that is working towards an IPO in the next 18-24 months.

Globally, the internet restaurant space was already witnessing momentum even before the pandemic hit, due to the inherent advantages of cost and scalability compared to brick-and-mortar restaurants. The past year has only accelerated the trend, with a greater portion of dine business now transitioning to delivery.

Delhi-based Daalchini a food vending machine startups that provide healthy Indian breakfast and evening snacks options has raised Rs 5 crore in seed round led by Artha Venture Fund.

Investors like Ajay Kaul, former CEO of Jubilant Foodworks; Ashutosh Valani and Priyank Shah, Co-founders of Beardo that was recently acquired by Marico have also invested in the current round.

Also Read: Captain Fresh bags $2.3 mn funding from Ankur Capital, others

“We look forward to learning from Ajay Kaul and focus on increasing ‘same-store-growth’, which might have been a challenge so far for vending machines that have a packaged supply chain,” said Vidya Bhushan, Co-founder, Daalchini.

Daalchini also caters to a variety of ready-to-eat Indian whole-wheat breads (Chappatis, Paranthas), anytime, anywhere.

It was founded by former Paytm employees Prerna Kalra and Vidya Bhushan in 2017.

The startup claims that it is bridging the gap of supply and demand unaddressed by providing a variety of cooked meals for under Rs 50 but 40 minutes faster than any food delivery app.

May Interest: Rebel Foods Eyes New Round of Funding, targets $1 BN Valuation

“In a post-COVID world, Daalchini’s value proposition increases manifold. They provide affordable cooked meals, from clean environments, delivered just once a day inside your office premises, but one can eat at a time convenient to them. Their solution is a no-brainer for office owners and office-going employees,” said Anirudh A Damani, Managing Partner at Artha Venture Fund.

InnerChef India Pvt Ltd, the parent company of cloud kitchen startup Innerchef, has raised $6.5 million i.e., INR 43 crore in a Pre-Series B round funding in order to expand its operations pan India. The financing round was led by Das Capital and Taizo Son’s Mistletoe Inc. The company intends to use the funds for brand building and developing the subscription-based food delivery model in the country.

Mistletoe is owned and funded by serial entrepreneur Taizo Son, the brother of Masayoshi Son, Founder and CEO of Japanese investment giant SoftBank.

Rajesh Sawhney, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, InnerChef said, “The fresh funding will be used to strengthen the brand portfolio. Healthie, for instance, has become a category-defining brand in 2018. We are also using the fresh round of funding to further strengthen our shared kitchen platform across India.”

Speaking about the expansion plans, Swahney said, “In the next few years, the delivery segment will grow the fastest in India as we see the strongest growth in that space. Secondly, we have to build 10 new-age brands in this segment.”

Innerchef, the cloud kitchen platform was founded by Rajesh Sawhney, Sanjeev Singhal and Bal Dighent in 2015. Its headquarter is in Gurugram. InnerChef, initially, started with delivering raw ingredient boxes where the consumers could make dishes on their own. After realizing that Indian consumers “were not ready for the box model”, the platform pivoted to cloud kitchen concept.

At present, InnerChef operates in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, and ships over 100,000 meals per month.

Business-to-business food tech firm HungerBox has raised USD 4.5 million ( around Rs 31 crore) in funding led by South Korea's Neoplux and India-focussed PE fund Sabre Capital.

The series A funding round also saw participation from Lionrock Capital (Singapore) and Infosys Co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, HungerBox said in a statement.

The funds will be used to support the company's growth in India as well for expansion into the southeast Asian market, it added.

"We look forward to working with the HungerBox team as they continue to transform the way large businesses handle their corporate food wellness and their F&B requirements," Sabre Partners Founder and Managing Partner Rajiv Maliwal said.

Started in 2016, HungerBox operates across Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi/NCR, Jaipur and Kolkata.

"We are seeing our business growing exponentially. Employee headcount has doubled to over 400 in less than six months; daily orders have grown to more than 2,00,000 from 1,20,000 in the same period, HungerBox CEO and Co-Founder Sandipan Mitra said.

Box8, Mumbai based on-demand food delivery Company, has raised Rs 21 crore in Series A funding from Mayfield headquartered in Silicon Valley.

The funds raised will be used to build a seamless customer experience across its mobile and web platforms.

Currently, over 50 per cent of Box8’s orders come through the mobile phone. Its integrated delivery management system guarantees fresh hot food is delivered each time.

“We keep only one thing in mind when we make our food; that we would only serve food that we enjoy eating. Food is a tricky business. It has many moving parts and is very personal to customers. We want our customers to keep coming back to us and therefore making the end-to-end experience frictionless for our customers is very important. We manage the technology, product and delivery therefore allowing us to have complete control over customer experience,” said Amit Raj, co-founder, Box8.

Founded by IIT graduates Amit Raj and Anshul Gupta in 2012, Box8 is a front-runner in India’s Rs 50,000-crore food tech market. Setup on pillars of taste, technology and innovation, Box8 aims to be the go to option for anyone wanting to order great tasting food.

Box8 has pioneered a compact All-in-One meal box which is one of its best-selling items. Keeping in mind the hectic and fast paced life of the Indian consumer, these meal boxes pack an elaborate Indian meal in a compact manner offering convenience to the consumers.

Living by the strategy of constant product innovation coupled with Indian flavors, Box8 has given an Indian twist to wraps and sandwiches.

The Company’s strength lies in its strong development team which comprises of experienced chefs from ITC and Marriott Hotels.

Box8 is currently present in Mumbai and has 22 delivery units across the city. With over 2,000 transactions per day, Box8 has grown 10x in the last 15 months.

The Company’s focus on taste, technology and innovation has resonated well with its customers, as 80 per cent of its daily transactions come from repeat customers.

New funds will also be deployed to aggressively increase Box8’s footprint across other Indian cities and expanding the team.

“We have over 30 IITians in our team and we would like to hire more such talented individuals from different backgrounds. Execution is the key to the success of this business and we want to build a team which focuses on getting the job done.” says Anshul Gupta, co-founder, Box8.

“Box8’s focused and innovative approach on product and technology is what differentiates them. We have met multiple companies in the food space, however Box8 is one of the most exciting and innovative start-ups we have come across. The founders are smart and energetic and have done well to build a strong core team which gives them an edge in this market. We are excited to be a part of their journey.” said Nikhil Khattau of Mayfield.

Prior to the investment by Mayfield, Box8 has received funding from Kaushal Aggarwal of Avendus Capital, Dheeraj Rajaram of MuSigma and Indian Angel Network.

Box8, Mumbai based on-demand food delivery Company, has raised Rs 21 crore in Series A funding from Mayfield headquartered in Silicon Valley.

The funds raised will be used to build a seamless customer experience across its mobile and web platforms.

Currently, over 50 per cent of Box8’s orders come through the mobile phone. Its integrated delivery management system guarantees fresh hot food is delivered each time.

“We keep only one thing in mind when we make our food; that we would only serve food that we enjoy eating. Food is a tricky business. It has many moving parts and is very personal to customers. We want our customers to keep coming back to us and therefore making the end-to-end experience frictionless for our customers is very important. We manage the technology, product and delivery therefore allowing us to have complete control over customer experience,” said Amit Raj, co-founder, Box8.

Founded by IIT graduates Amit Raj and Anshul Gupta in 2012, Box8 is a front-runner in India’s Rs 50,000-crore food tech market. Setup on pillars of taste, technology and innovation, Box8 aims to be the go to option for anyone wanting to order great tasting food.

Box8 has pioneered a compact All-in-One meal box which is one of its best-selling items. Keeping in mind the hectic and fast paced life of the Indian consumer, these meal boxes pack an elaborate Indian meal in a compact manner offering convenience to the consumers.

Living by the strategy of constant product innovation coupled with Indian flavors, Box8 has given an Indian twist to wraps and sandwiches.

The Company’s strength lies in its strong development team which comprises of experienced chefs from ITC and Marriott Hotels.

Box8 is currently present in Mumbai and has 22 delivery units across the city. With over 2,000 transactions per day, Box8 has grown 10x in the last 15 months.

The Company’s focus on taste, technology and innovation has resonated well with its customers, as 80 per cent of its daily transactions come from repeat customers.

New funds will also be deployed to aggressively increase Box8’s footprint across other Indian cities and expanding the team.

“We have over 30 IITians in our team and we would like to hire more such talented individuals from different backgrounds. Execution is the key to the success of this business and we want to build a team which focuses on getting the job done.” says Anshul Gupta, co-founder, Box8.

“Box8’s focused and innovative approach on product and technology is what differentiates them. We have met multiple companies in the food space, however Box8 is one of the most exciting and innovative start-ups we have come across. The founders are smart and energetic and have done well to build a strong core team which gives them an edge in this market. We are excited to be a part of their journey.” said Nikhil Khattau of Mayfield.

Prior to the investment by Mayfield, Box8 has received funding from Kaushal Aggarwal of Avendus Capital, Dheeraj Rajaram of MuSigma and Indian Angel Network.