Here’s why CommonFloor’s founder, Google’s India boss, and Amazon’s India chief love this food startup

What do the co-founders of CommonFloor, TaxiForSure, and Yo China have in common with the managing director of Google India and country manager of Amazon India? They are all investors in a six-month-old Bangalore-based food delivery startup called Dazo, which went by the name of TapCibo until a week ago. Dazo today revealed the undisclosed funding round.

Dazo co-founder Shashaank Shekhar Singhal explains to Tech in Asia that his startup is on the cusp of food, technology, and logistics. So he went in search of investors who would bring expertise in these diverse fields.

Aprameya Radhakrishna of TaxiForSure and Sumit Jain of Commonfloor, for example, are bringing their internet expertise and logistics experience. For mobile knowhow, there’s Amit Agarwal of Amazon India or Alok Goel, CEO of FreeCharge [who is also an investor].

“If there is something we need to figure out on food,” continues Singhal, “we can ask Ashish Dev Kapur, who founded the Yo China chain of restaurants. We also have Vinay Goel, the global head of Google Maps in Mountain View, California. He is helping us out with location technology.” As for Google India’s Rajan Anandan, who better to tap for growth hacks?

All these inputs are helping to differentiate Dazo from the plethora of food tech startups rising fast in India, from biggies like Foodpanda and Zomato to niche players like TinyOwl, iTiffin, and Spoonjoy. “We want to be the leaders in terms of technology in this space,” says Singhal, a graduate of the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, who headed the mobile products team at bus ticketing portal RedBus.

Food before brand

The tech play comes in different forms on the mobile-only Dazo. For one thing, it’s a location intelligent app. If you open the Dazo app on MG Road in Bangalore, you will only see the 8-10 options suitable to you, according to your preferences. “You don’t have to go through hundreds of options,” Singhal points out.

More fundamentally, Dazo puts the food before brand. What you pick is the meal that you want, and not a restaurant or a brand like McDonald’s. What Dazo tries to ensure is a standardized experience in ordering and delivery, packaging and of course the food itself. It’s home-style Indian fare with lentils, rice, and vegetables, or chicken curry with roti (unleavened bread), accompanied with chutney and curd. Seasonal vegetables and the wide array of Indian cooking styles provide daily variety. You just choose the meal you want, without worrying about where it’s made.

Singhal explains how this experience is different from what you get on most food portals or apps.

When you or me get hungry, we first think of food, and since we know a brand that can serve that food, we think of that brand. That is why most startups in the food delivery space have put the brand first. What we have in Dazo is a highly curated marketplace for meals. It is not an open marketplace where everyone can come and sell their food.

When Dazo started out as TapCibo in Indiranagar, it had its own kitchen to prepare the sort of wholesome, affordable, and tasty meals that office-goers could not get easily from restaurants. Now, as it expands to other areas in Bangalore, it has partnered with restaurants, but only those willing to prepare the dishes in the way that Dazo wants for its app.