Exclusive: Former Zomato Executive’s Startup Ninecamp Bags $2 Mn To Disrupt Premium Dining Space

Ninecamp Ventures, a house of premium food and beverage brands floated by former Zomato executive Chaitanya Mathur, has raised $2 Mn (about INR 16.7 Cr) in its seed funding round from a clutch of angel and non-institutional investors.

Zomato cofounders Mohit Gupta and Gaurav Gupta; Honasa cofounders Ghazal and Varun Alagh; Cars24 cofounders Vikram Chopra, Ruchit Agarwal, Mehul Agrawal and Gajendra Jangid; and PharmEasy cofounder Dharmil Sheth are among the investors who participated in the funding round.

The startup said it will use the capital to expand its brand portfolio and team size. 

Incorporated in October last year, Ninecamp claims to be a new generation food and beverage startup, primarily focussed on premium dining and consumer products. It aims to roll out a new wave of premium dining experiences focussed on global standards in terms of product, service, design, and ingredients. 

Ninecamp launched its first restaurant Marièta in Gurugram in April this year.

“We truly envision that consumers in India would appreciate the kind of products we are building as a next generation of food and beverage, especially in the dining space and then largely in the sector as a whole. We are starting with a few premium dining products and look to go deeper with categories like quick service restaurants, casual dining outlets and maybe even delivery only brands,” founder and CEO Mathur told Inc42.

Mathur has over 17 years of experience and played a key role in establishing Zomato’s live business by creating Zomaland. He has been behind several entertainment and event brands. He founded Excited Monkey Entertainment in 2008, where he stayed till 2011. He then founded music portal Bangin Beats in 2011 and cofounded festival platform The Grub Fest in 2014. 

He was also behind establishment of restaurant brands like Dear Donna, Bohca and Dirty Good in New Delhi.

Ninecamp’s leadership team includes chief operating officer Punweet Singh, who is the former cofounder of beverage company Jade Forest, and chief marketing officer Sukriti Chopra. 

Mathur also said that the startup also aims to enter the fast-moving consumer goods space going ahead. 

According to an Inc42 report, India’s food and beverage industry is expected to clock a 27% CAGR till 2030.

From established brands like Amul, Baskin Robbins, and McDonald’s to startups like iD Fresh Foods, Chaayos, Coolberg, and Paper Boat, there is no dearth of choices for Indian consumers.  Despite this, there is enough headroom for both the existing and new players to flourish in the sector.

Meanwhile, Mathur has floated his new venture at a time when more and more top Indian startup executives are leaving to start their own ventures. Earlier this year, former Times Internet CEO Gautam Sinha started a new artificial intelligence (AI) startup SimpleO.ai. 

Former Swiggy executive Karthik Gurumurthy also quit to start a new startup. He bagged funding for the venture, but later reportedly returned the capital to investors.