Coca-Cola Backed Foodtech Startup Thrive Shuts Operations

SUMMARY

Thrive has become the latest Indian startup to shut operations, its cofounder and CEO Krishi Fagwani said

The cofounder said that the market is dominated by a “few well-funded giants” and it is “extraordinarily challenging” for small platforms to survive

He assured that all services, including payments and tax compliance, will continue without disruption during the transition period

Foodtech platform Thrive has become the latest Indian startup to shut operations, its cofounder and CEO Krishi Fagwani said.

In a LinkedIn post, the cofounder attributed the decision to wind down operations to lack of resources. “Over the years, we’ve fought hard to create a more equitable approach to food delivery and discovery—lower commissions, fairer pricing, social-led discovery, and a human-centered connection between restaurants and their customers. However, scaling that vision required resources we couldn’t secure,” Fagwani said.

Reflecting on the learnings, the cofounder said that the market is dominated by a “few well-funded giants” and it is “extraordinarily challenging” for small platforms to survive.

“We are now working to transition Thrive ONDC, Thrive Direct, and the Thrive Marketing Suite to the right industry partner to ensure continuity for our restaurant partners,” he added.

He assured that all services, including payments and tax compliance, will continue without disruption during the transition period.

The startup had 42 employees.

Founded in 2020 by Fagwani, Dhruv Dewan and Karan Chechani, Thrive had partnered with more than 14,000 restaurants in 80 cities and competed directly with Swiggy and Zomato.

It allowed restaurants to either use their staff to deliver the orders or one of the startup’s third-party logistics partners. Further, Thrive also had a self-serve tool that offered restaurants the option of building their sub-portals on its platform so they can get direct online orders from consumers.

The platform claimed to charge only 3% commission, compared to 18-25% being charged by Zomato and Swiggy.

Notably, Coca-Cola acquired a 15% stake in the platform in 2023, marking its first investment in an Indian startup.

Jubilant FoodWorks, which operates Domino’s India, picked up a 35% stake in Thrive for around INR 25 Cr in 2021.

With this, Thrive joins the list of at least 12 funded startups which were shuttered in 2024.