Nepali food delivery startup Foodmandu secures series B money

Nepal-based foodtech startup Foodmandu has raised an undisclosed amount of series B funding from local private investment fund Team Ventures.

From left: True North Associates’ Nidhaan Shrestha, Team Ventures’ Nidhaan Shrestha, and Foodmandu’s Manohar Adhikari / Photo credit: Foodmandu

As part of the deal, Team Ventures will get a 20% stake in the food delivery platform, according to a statement. It will be done through a mix of new shares and a partial buy-out of the holdings of True North Associates (TNA), which invested in the startup in 2015.

Founded in 2010, Foodmandu delivers food from over 500 restaurants across three cities in Kathmandu Valley through its pool of 200 riders. It also delivers fresh vegetables, beverages, and cakes to its patrons from farmers’ markets, wholesalers, and hotels. It recently added augmented reality features to its platform.

Manohar Adhikari, Foodmandu’s founder and chief technology officer, said that the new funds will go toward expansion. The company told Tech in Asia that it plans to reach more cities in Nepal and expand further into the vegetables, beverages, and fresh grocery segments.

Foodmandu is TNA’s first investment, according to the statement. TNA is a domestic private equity and venture capital firm that invests in financial services, agriculture, and tech-enabled businesses.

“Partial exit from Foodmandu sends a strong signal to the bubbling alternative investments ecosystem in Nepal that these investments work,” said Nidhaan Shrestha, investment manager at TNA. The move also shows that the proactive application of PE investments can help expedite companies’ growth, the exec added.

According to the statement, Foodmandu’s business grew almost 10x over the last four years.