Best Indian Food-Tech Startups
India is the sixth largest food industry in the world. Retail startups account for about 70% of the total sales in this segment. According to reports, the food and retail market will be worth more than $ 828.92 billion by 2021. The food-tech industry is growing rapidly with the emergence and development of verticals like food and grocery delivery, personal chefs, box delivery, and on-demand meals; these are becoming popular day by day. There is a confluence of many successful foodtech-based startups currently operational in India along with several upcoming and promising ones. In this post, we have listed some of the most successful food-tech startups in India.
Zomato
Founders: Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah
Founded in: 2008
Zomato is a Gurgaon-based online and mobile app platform for restaurant discovery, ordering, pick-up, and table booking. Zomato was founded by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah in 2008. It is an Indian restaurant- search and discovery service that lets you search from over a million restaurants across the globe and currently operates in 24 countries. The app and website also provide information and reviews of restaurants while allowing users to upload images of the menu items they order as well as the outlet’s pictures.
Zomato also launched a white-label platform where restaurants can create their own apps with customized features and integrate with Zomato’s ‘order and analytical’ support. It also did surprisingly well during the pandemic. The startup has raised a funding of about $673 million from investors such as Glade Brook Capital, Ant Financial, and VY Capital among others.
| Location | Gurgaon |
|---|---|
| Total Funding | $673 Mn |
| Investors | Sequoia Capital, Temasek Holdings, Glade Brook Capital Partners, Shunwei Capital, Vy Capital, Info Edge, Delivery Hero, Neeraj Arora, Ant Financial, Alipay Singapore, Saturn Shine |
Swiggy
Founders: Sriharsha Majety, Nandan Reddy, and Rahul Jaimini
Founded in: 2014
Swiggy is a Bangalore-based food ordering and delivery venture that provides food services solutions for restaurants. Swiggy was founded by the trio of Sriharsha Majety, Nandan Reddy, and Rahul Jaimini in 2014. Vishal Bhatia is the CEO of Swiggy. They are known to deliver food and desserts from restaurants to its customers in under 40 minutes. The company’s smartphone-equipped delivery personnel provide deliveries to customers through an app that runs on routing algorithms. Customers can also track their orders in real-time. When Swiggy began, it offered free deliveries. Today, Swiggy charges its customers Rs. 30 (average) for a delivery but also provides free delivery on huge orders.
Swiggy currently has more than 5000 employees and operates in eight Indian cities; it has more than 9000 restaurants on its platform. The startup has raised a funding of $1.47 billion from investors such as Naspers, DST Global, and Tencent among others. It aims to stand out by offering a curated list of restaurants and services and has an in-house delivery fleet to pick up orders from restaurants for delivery.
| Location | Bangalore |
|---|---|
| Total Funding | $1.47 Bn |
| Investors | Accel Partners, Norwest Venture Partners – NVP, DST Global, Bessemer Venture Partners, Wellington Management, Coatue Management, Harmony Partners, Tencent Holdings, SAIF Partners, Naspers, Hillhouse Capital Group, RB Investments, Meituan-Dianping |
FreshMenu
Founder: Rashmi Daga
Founded in: 2014
FreshMenu is a Bangalore-based restaurant that works on the concept of cloud kitchen and a go-to for neighborhood food delivery. It offers freshly prepared food from cuisines such as oriental, continental, Italian, Mughlai and others. The startup offers a menu that changes daily and delivers freshly prepared meals at the customer’s doorstep in just 45 minutes. It operates through kitchens spread across the city and owns a delivery fleet.
FreshMenu’s meals are crafted with the finest ingredients comprising farm fresh vegetables, fresh dairy, and meat products. It serves about 12000 orders on a daily basis and its average ticket size is INR 320. The startup was founded by Rashmi Daga who is also the CEO of FreshMenu. The startup has raised $24 million in funds from investors such as Lightspeed Venture Partners and GrowthStory Investments.
| Location | Bangalore |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2014 |
| Total Funding | $24 Mn |
| Investors | Lightspeed Venture Partners, Zodius Capital |
Faasos
Founders: Jaydeep Barman and Kallol Banerjee
Founded in: 2011
Faasos Food Services Pvt. Ltd. is a Pune-based “food on demand” startup. Faasos was founded by Jaydeep Barman and Kallol Banerjee in 2011. It is an online food ordering platform that currently operates in 16 Indian cities and takes customer orders on its mobile app and website. Faasos has an operational model wherein it aggregates different restaurant chains and individual restaurants to deliver a large variety of dishes. It has succeeded in striking a balance between scalability and sustainability.
Faasos services around 18000 orders on a daily basis. The company owns brands like Behrouz Biriyani, Ovenstory, and Kettle & Eggs. It has raised a funding of $80 million from names like Alteria Capital, Sistema Asia Capital, Evolvence India, etc.
| Location | Pune |
|---|---|
| Total Funding | $75 Mn |
| Investors | Temasek, Goldman Sachs, Falcon Edge and Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, Lightbox Ventures II, Lightbox Expansion Fund, Sequoia Capital India, ru-Net South Asia, and RB Investments |
Box8
Founders: Anshul Gupta and Amit Raj
Founded in: 2011
Box8 is a Mumbai-based Indian quick service restaurant chain. Box8 provides users an online platform to browse through various product menus and place order(s) for home delivery. The app is available on iOS and Android platforms.
The startup has raised $12 million which it utilizes to build technology, expand the team, deepen market penetration, and build a seamless customer experience across its mobile and website platforms. It currently operates in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, & Gurgaon. The investor list includes names like Trifecta Capital, Mayfield, IIFL Wealth Management,Seed Venture Fund, and 42 others.
| Location | Bangalore |
|---|---|
| Total Funding | $12 Mn |
| Investors | Mayfield Fund, Indian Angel Network, IIFL, Nitin Singhal, Kaushal Aggarwal, eWTP Ecosystem Fund, IIFL Seed Ventures |
HungerBox
Founders: Sandipan Mitra
Founded in: 2015
HungerBox is a B2B food-tech startup founded by Sandipan Mitra in 2007. The startup is a full-stack B2B and F&B (food and beverage) technology venture and delivers food solutions for corporate clients. It currently serves over 100 clients across India and continues to delight them every day with its services.
HungerBox is revolutionizing office food and cafeteria management with the help of the best caterers in the city and through the best in class technology, infrastructure, and robust operational processes without compromising on food quality and food safety. The startup aims to enhance the productivity of food companies (restaurants, delivery startups, etc.) by providing them a technology-based system so that the focus is only on food.
| Location | Bangalore |
|---|---|
| Total Funding | $7 Mn |
| Investors | Neoplux, Sabre Partners, Kris Gopalakrishnan, LionRock Capital |
Cure.fit
Founder: Mukesh Bansal
Founded in: 2016
Cure.fit is based out of Bangalore and was founded in 2016 by Mukesh Bansal. Mukesh is also the co-founder of Myntra. Cure.fit is an Indian health and fitness venture that offers digital and offline experiences across fitness, nutrition, and mental well-being. It wants to make fitness fun and easy. Cure.fit focuses on preventive healthcare space and enables users to proactively manage their health through various offerings.
Cure.fit provides fresh and tailor-made salads under the brand Eat.fit. It also home delivers fresh and homely food low in carb, high in protein, and includes lots of green vegetables. The focus is on healthy food spanning across Indian cuisine, fusion food, salads, and snacks. Cure.fit has raised $170 million from Kalaari Capital, Aceel Partners, and Oaktree Capital Management among others. Hrithik Roshan is Cure.fit’s brand ambassador.
| Location | Bangalore |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2016 |
| Total Funding | $294.6 Mn |
| Investors | Accel Partners, IDG Ventures USA, Kalaari Capital, Accel, IDG Ventures, Unilever Ventures, Oaktree Capital Management, InnoVen Capital, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Chiratae Ventures, Epiq Capital, Pratithi Investment Trust, Anand Piramal Trust |
MagicPin
Founders: Anshoo Sharma and Brij Bhushan
Founded in: 2015
MagicPin is a coupons website. It provides rewards and cashback to diners. The company was founded in 2015 by Anshoo Sharma and Brij Bhushan. MagicPin has its presence in 16 Indian cities like Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Pune. With 1.4 million users, the platform drives Rs. 30 crores of monthly sales for partner food and beverage (F&B) chains that include KFC and Hard Rock Café. MagicPin is also exploring two other segments: groceries and beauty & wellness.
Diners can earn cashback if they dine in a restaurant partnered with MagicPin by uploading a photo of the bill along with a selfie with the dish. To increase user engagement, MagicPin uses data from check-ins, recommendations, and reviews in a live feed-style timeline interface. The platform also provides promotional service to restaurants for posting surveys and advertisements.
| Location | Gurugram |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2015 |
| Total Funding | $30 Mn |
| Investors | Lightspeed Venture Partners, Vy Capital, Knollwood Investment Advisory, Google Launchpad Accelerator, Sequoia Capital India |
Swadhika Foods
Founder: Swarnamugi R Karthik
Founded in: 2015
Swadhika Foods is an Indian food processing startup headquartered in Chennai. It is a leading supplier and exporter of premium quality frozen IQF fruits and vegetables, and frozen ready to eat/cook foods. Swadhika Foods is accredited to APEDA, USFDA, FSSAI, ISO, BRC, and HACCP to ensure reliability and meeting international food safety standards. Swadhika Foods has a network with the best partners to ensure reliable source, produce, and product.
Conclusion
With people inclining towards better lifestyle, the food-tech industry is booming and evolving at the same time. In the next few years, one can expect drastic change and increase in the number of food-tech companies in India. Do comment if you know about any awesome food-tech startup in India that deserves to be on this list.