Internet first restaurant SpoonJoy raises $1M series A funding from SAIF Partners

When we published a story about Indian VCs salivating over food-tech startups, we weren't kidding. SpoonJoy which started its operations in July 2014, looks at themselves as more of a supply-chain management startup rather than a purely food startup. They announced today that they have raised a $1 million series A round from SAIF partners.The startup would be using this funding round to upgrade its technological capabilities and also expand to more cities. Currently operating in Bangalore, they are planning to launch their services in Delhi and Mumbai in the next two months.

Growth

When we last spoke to Manish Jethani, the founder of SpoonJoy in December 2014, they were doing about 350-400 orders a day and are now currently clocking close to 1000 orders a day. They initially started as a subscription only service where users could schedule their orders based on their need and convenience in different time slots from 10am-6pm.

They currently offer 'on demand' lunch and dinner in 30 minutes in addition to the subscription model which includes salads, snacks, fruits and sprout. Lunch is offered in Indiranagar, MG Road, HSR Layout, Bellandur, Koramangala and Domlur while dinner in HSR Layout. The team is planning to expand to other areas in two weeks.

Since December the core team has grown from four members to seven and the total number of employees including the logistics and technology team is close to 100. Spoonjoy.com had earlier raised an undisclosed amount of angel funding from the top team of Flipkart including Sachin Bansal and Mekin Maheshwari, Abhishek Goyal Founder, Tracxn! and Sahil Barua, co-founder, Delhivery.

Manish Jethani. Founder & CEO, SpoonJoy.com added:

We are bringing an alternative to cooking at home. Restaurant food is not something you can eat or you can afford everyday. Our aim is to make healthy and affordable meal accessible to everyone at a click of a button. 70% of our customers order from mobile app. A typical high quality meal at SpoonJoy costs less than Rs. 100.We are able to achieve this by optimising supply chain and using technology to minimise delivery cost.

Vishal Sood, MD SAIF Partners added:

SpoonJoy is an Internet first restaurant, which is an exciting new format that has emerged globally. It is a highly scalable and capital efficient business. Manish has brought together a strong management team and we believe they have the potential to build a pan-India Internet first restaurant. We are very excited to partner with them in this endeavour.

Website: SpoonJoy

The foodtech space is really heating up with multiple investments in the last week. Foodpanda today announced that it had raised $100M in funding led by Goldman Sachs;  Dazo (previously called Tapcibo) raised funding from multiple investors; Grab raised $1 M from Oliphans Capital and Haresh Chawla. Other noteworthy startups in the sector that are doing well include TinyOwl, Swiggy, Yumist and Frsh. Zomato recently launched online ordering in NCR and will be rolling out in Bangalore and Mumbai next.

Related read: 8 food tech startups to watch out for in 2015