Kalaari Bets On Mumbai Based Food Tech Startup Holachef, Invests $3.1Mn

Mumbai-based Holachef, a food tech startup has raised $3.1 Mn in venture capital funding led by Kalaari Capital with participation from its existing investor India Quotient. The funds raised will be used to invest in modern infrastructure, technology and delivery.

The startup connects expert chefs with consumers through its website and mobile app on Android and iPhone. The biggest novelty of Holachef is that it offers a new menu to choose food from every day and delivers it to the user in state-of-the-art packaging. Each meal offered by them is priced in the range of INR120 to INR 350 on an average and serves one person; hence making it an high value for money package for the consumer.

The startup is currently serving in Andheri, Powai and Bandra Kural Complex and is doing over 1000 orders a day which is a significant increase from its 160 orders a day in February 2015. The company offers around 50 choices each day and orders have to be placed a couple of hours in advance for lunch, snacks and dinner.

Saurabh Saxena, co-founder, Holachef said,”Considering the extreme environment in which deliveries happen in this country, it is important for us to invest in infrastructure.” He emphasized that building a supply chain will be a high priority for the startup. To do so, company plans to set up a central kitchen to ensure quantity and quality.

India Quotient invested $315k in Holachef 3 months back. Food tech startup is massing immense heat from investors as a number of companies have raised funds recently. Swiggy raised about $16.5 Mn from Norwest and others in Series B just a few days back. Online cab booking startup, Ola launched food delivery service in 4 cities i.e. Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Named as Ola Cafe, the service claims to deliver food in just 20 minutes!

The organised food industry is said to be valued at around $15 Bn, and is projected to grow 16% every year to reach $28 Bn by 2018 which makes it certain that food tech industry will be on a rising trend year by year.