Cloud kitchen platform Kitchens Centre, which provides ready-to-move-in and fully equipped kitchens for delivery-only restaurants, has raised $500,000 (about Rs 3.8 crore) in a seed funding round.
The capital infusion was led by AngelList India, Kitchens Centre said in a statement. AngelList India partner Utsav Somani and AngelList partner Jake Zeller also invested.
Other investors who took part in this round were Thumbtack co-founder Jonathon Swanson, Junglee Games founder Ankush Gera and Mosaic Wellness co-founder Revant Bhate.
New Delhi-based Kitchens Centre was founded by Lakshay Jain last year. Jain, a graduate from NYU Stern School of Business, worked with a Delhi-based beverages company before starting Kitchens Centre, his LinkedIn profile shows.
Kitchens Centre provides kitchen infrastructure and commercial space to cloud kitchens. It also provides assistance with business aspects such as branding, order management, delivery and maintenance services.
The company will use the capital to accelerate its expansion into newer regions, with a focus on hyperlocal delivery. Separately, it has also acquired Posify, a management solution platform for food and beverage brands.
“The network effort of things like order gapping, CRM (customer relationship management) support, customer data helps them achieve an average 25% increase in sales and better payback periods after partnering with us,” Jain said.
Some of the brands Kitchens Centre has partnered with include Wok Me, Wow! Momo, Asian Haus and Burgrill.
Deals in the cloud kitchen space
AngelList’s commitment to the startup is yet another example of the bets investors are placing on firms operating in the cloud kitchen segment. The business model has taken off in the past few years, with its asset-light and low-fixed-cost approach proving attractive to potential investors. The presence of delivery aggregation platforms such as Zomato and Swiggy has also led to big cheques being written for cloud kitchen companies.
One of the biggest recipients of funding in this segment so far has been Rebel Foods Pvt. Ltd, which owns brands such as Faasos and Behrouz Biryani. In August last year, it raised $125 million (around Rs 868 crore) from Goldman Sachs, Indonesian ride-hailing firm Go-Jek and US-based investor Coatue Management.
Last month, Cross Border Kitchens Pvt. Ltd, which runs an internet-driven multi-brand food and beverage company, raised an undisclosed sum in angel funding led by Shreedhar Gupta.
In September, regional cuisine-focussed Zesty Kitchen raised Rs 3 crore in angel funding from a clutch of investors including former Abbott India managing director Rehan Khan, ITC Ltd divisional chief executive agribusiness Sanjiv Rangrass, Cleanmax managing director Kuldeep Jain and Suhail Sameer, the chief executive officer at RP-SG FMCG.
