South Korea’s Neoplus And Sabre Capital Lead $4.5 Mn Series A Funding In HungerBox

Growth Story-promoted B2B foodtech company HungerBox has closed a $4.5 Mn Series A funding round led by South Korea-based investment firm Neoplux, and India-focussed PE fund, Sabre Partners.

Existing investors Lionrock Capital (Singapore) and Infosys Co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, who led the $2.5 Mn pre-Series A funding round in the company in January this year, also participated in the latest round.

Based in Bengaluru, HungerBox was started by Sandipan Mitra and Uttam Kumar in 2016 as a full stack, foodtech company making use of the latest IoT that is focussed on the B2B space. The startup caters through a customised mobile app with more than 50 different payment methods which is made available to each employee in the client organisation, connecting them to the food vendors through the tech-led seamless solution.

The funds will be deployed to support HungerBox’s rapid growth in India as well as fuel the company’s expansion into the South East Asian market.

HungerBox claims to clock more than six million orders a month (200,000+ orders per day) across 160 + digital cafeterias that it currently manages around the country. It has clients such as Qualcomm, Microsoft, FirstSource, Accenture, CapGemini, Genpact, ABB and McKinsey among others. It employs 400 staff across India.

As Sandipan said, “We are now present in nine cities – Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi/NCR, Jaipur and Kolkata. Many of our clients are MNCs and we have been receiving many requests for us to support them in markets outside India. Having marquee investors place their faith in us boosts our prospects, especially as we expand our operational footprint.”

According to estimates, spending on food and business in the B2B space alone is estimated to reach $14 Bn in India in 2018 with the sector growing at ~ 15% per annum.

HungerBox: The “Technology” Is The Success Mantra

Using the HungerBox app, employees can view the menu provided by all enlisted food vendors at their workplace cafeterias, place orders and track their deliveries accurately along with the feature to provide feedback on the food they receive.

Other features which make the app preferable to the employees, and not just in terms of food ordering include: ‘Personalised Recommendations’ to employees through its AI-driven technology, ‘Health Mode’ for health-conscious employees, ability to undertake group-ordering and orders from restaurants in the vicinity when corporate café’s are closed etc.

“The strength of their (HungerBox) technology-led solution, deep penetration into large corporate accounts and carefully calibrated growth means their business is extremely robust. We are delighted to partner this exciting company as they harness the potential for disruption in the corporate catering space in other markets beyond India,” said Alex Noh, Head of Cross-border Investment, Neoplux.