Dubai Based Investors Back FoodTech Startup SmartQ, Pump $1 Mn In Funding

Bengaluru-based online foodtech platform SmartQ has raised close to $1 Mn in funding from a consortium of Dubai based investors. The existing investor, YourNest has also participated in this round.

Commenting on this development, Anvita Varshney, Ex Managing Director of Lazada group, said, “Within a short span of time, SmartQ has been able to build on a huge customer base and has been serving some of the best and large-scale businesses.”

Founded by Krishna Wage and Abhishek Ashok in 2014, SmartQ enables a digital cafeteria experience across different sectors including corporates, malls, multiplexes, stadiums, hospitals and colleges. The digital cafeteria platform of SmartQ includes mobile application, automated billing kiosks, centralised billing system, NFC prepaid cards, POS software etc.

The primary value proposition that SmartQ offers is the capability to transform any conventional cafeteria into one that is completely digital and cashless. This enhances cafeteria and food-court experience by eliminating queues, minimising wait time, and increasing collaborative work time. The company claims to have been growing 50% month-on-month and clocks over 100K+ transactions every day.

The startup intends to use the raised funds for expanding the business within India and across international geographies along with further strengthening the team. Through the funds received, the startup also has plans to roll out some of the world’s best and first of its kind product portfolio for the customers.

Krishna Wage, Co-founder and CEO, SmartQ, said, “The funding has enabled all of us at SmartQ to take the startup to the next level of strategic growth and further scaling up on technology, talent and brand building in full swing.”

Further, as part of the funding deal, Anvita Varshney, Ex Managing Director of Lazada group, has joined as the Board of Advisors for SmartQ. Yournest has fully committed the Fund I, which was of $13.84 Mn (INR 90 Cr), to 16 companies including SmartQ. The fund invest is tech-enabled businesses and seeks out disruptive ideas in cutting-edge technologies – IoT, Robotics, Enterprise SaaS using AI/ML, Block Chain etc.

Digital cafeterias are the new trend that foodtech startups are trying to set in. Similar to SmartQ, there is HungerBox, which is currently serving 110+ digital cafeterias and have also recently raised $2.5 Mn in Series A funding round. It also offers 50 different payment methods to its clients. Another company is Zeta, which has introduced host of digital ordering and payment facilities to digitise the existing cafeterias in the corporate organisations.

The time is ripe and essentially the latest funding round will help the foodtech startup SmartQ in scaling ahead and add on more digital cafeterias to its list.