Flipkart founder bets on SpoonJoy as food startups heat up in India

You are what you eat, right? Many startups in India have used this as their motto and are earning big bucks by delivering healthy food to their client’s doorsteps.

Bangalore-based food delivery startup Spoonjoy.com aims to serve that need by offering a subscription service for food delivery across Bangalore. Launched in April 2013, Spoonjoy recently raised an undisclosed amount of funding from various angel investors, including co-founder of Flipkart Sachin Bansal, Flipkart CPO Mekin Maheshwari, Tracxn! founder Abhishek Goyal, and co-founder of Delhivery Sahil Barua.

Unlike online food aggregators, SpoonJoy is in charge of the food they deliver. “SpoonJoy is a brand which controls entire value chain – raw material, recipes, delivery, and payment. This helps us optimize the supply chain better and offer good value to the customers,” said founder Manish Jethani to Tech In Asia. The new funding will be used to build technology and scale up operations.

The startup currently receives 350-400 orders daily. Most of their clients are office-goers.

With a core team of 12 and a host of delivery executives, the company is seeking to expand to cities like Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai as early as the first quarter of 2015. SpoonJoy recently launched a mobile app for Android, and expects to launch its iOS app in the next couple of months.

It’s boom time!

Like SpoonJoy, another startup iTiffin has been delivering meals for the calorie-concious in Bangalore. The venture raised US$1 million in August and has tie-ups with schools and large corporate office to serve lunch. SnaxSmart, another Bangalore startup, has been supplying offices with smart health-food vending machines.

Investments in India’s food delivery-related startups has been gaining momentum. In the last few months, Foodpanda acquired TastyKhana for an undisclosed amount, while Mumbai’s startup, TinyOwl secured a US$3 million funding. Another Mumbai-based food delivery venture, Meals on Wheels, was acquired by hybrid startup incubation platform Antfarm for a deal estimated at US$2 million.

The food service industry in India is a US$14 billion market where the unorganized sector accounts for US$12 billion. Quick service restaurants rule the organised sector with a 50 percent share. While the online food-delivery industry is at its nascent stage, it has seen an annual growth rate of 150 percent. Increased internet penetration, rise in smartphone usage, and the continued economic slowdown that forces restaurants to start delivery options are the main factors which led to this growth.

The food delivery business is not new in India. The ’dabbawalla’ system in Mumbai – an intricately organized, labor-intensive operation delivering close to 200,000 meals to workplaces all over Mumbai with near-clockwork precision every day – will be 125 years old next year. Imagine if it opts to take the technology route!

See: Yummy! 6 Popular Online Food Delivery Startups in India