Daalchini Technologies Pvt Ltd, which operates vending machines that offer food, has raised Rs 5 crore ($670,300) in its pre-Series A funding round.
The investment was led by existing investor Artha Venture Fund, the early-stage venture capital firm said in a statement.
Angel investors also contributed to this round, such as Ajay Kaul, former CEO of Jubilant Foodworks; and Ashutosh Valani, and Priyank Shah, co-founders of male grooming startup Beardo, recently acquired by Marico.
Daalchini will use the funds to expand and boost its product portfolio.
Prerna Kalra, co-founder, said that the startup aims to have 2,000 vending machines installed by the end of 2021, which she added would be a growth of eight times.
Daalchini was founded in 2017 by Kalra and Vidya Bhushan, who were Paytm executives. Its customers can order food via a mobile app and then pick up the items from the nearest kiosk.
Anirudh A Damani, managing partner at Artha Venture Fund, said that Daalchini’s value proposition increases manifold in a Covid-19 world as it helps provide affordable cooked meals on office premises.
Prior to this investment, Daalchini had raised Rs 3.5 crore from Artha Venture Fund in July last year.
Artha Venture Fund
Artha Venture Fund is backed by Singularity Holdings and the family office of former BSE director Ashok Kumar Damani.
In July, the fund backed a mobility platform for kids, Piggy Ride, in its eight bet.
The fund's other investments include online peer-to-peer lending platform LenDenClub, mini-cinema chain Jadooz and space-tech startup Agnikul.
In a interaction VCCircle published in June, Anirudh A Damani, managing partner, Artha Venture Fund, said it is facing a delay in hitting the final close of its debut fund due to the coronavirus pandemic and hopes to finish the exercise by the end of this year.
The VC firm had marked the second close of the fund at over Rs 100 crore last year. Its overall target is Rs 200 crore.
He also added that Artha Venture Fund may dip into the fund’s greenshoe option to raise a larger amount.
