Hyderabad-based Vicinia Retail Pvt. Ltd, which operates food delivery startup TinMen, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from MAPE Advisory Group, Sify co-founder R Ramaraj and Corvus Ventures, which is led by Mahesh Reddy of MAPE Advisory.
Existing investor Lead Angels, which put in an undisclosed amount in the company last year, also took part in the round. The startup will use the funds for marketing, team-building and expansion to other cities, it said in a press statement.
“We have a product which fits perfectly into the gap in the online food ordering for customers who are value and quality-conscious. Our startup has built all of its technology in-house and we have learnt from the multiple challenges of the food + technology space over the last year,†Mukesh Manda, co-founder of TinMen, said.
Currently available in Hyderabad, TinMen is a daily food delivery service targeted at office-goers. Users can create meal plans for a day, a week or a month, and can opt out at a day’s notice. The company doesn't own any kitchens and has home chefs on its platform. TinMen has tied up with third-party logistics service providers and runs its own delivery service.
The startup was founded in August 2015 by Chaitanya Degala and Manda. Degala is an alumnus of Oxford Said Business School and has worked with companies like CRISIL and Deloitte before starting up. Manda is an IIT-Kharagpur graduate who has previously worked with Oracle and Amazon.
The company currently delivers 30,000 meals a month and has on-boarded more than 100 home chefs on its platform. It claims to be operationally profitable and aims to deliver 3 lakh orders per month by December 2017.
Last year, the food-tech segment in India saw many startups shut shop, pivot their business models and reduce staff as they could not raise fresh funds. Despite the weak unit economics and wafer-thin margins, the space has seen some investment activity in the past few months.
In February, Bangalore-based online food delivery startup 48East secured $500,000 (Rs 3.4 crore) in pre-Series A funding from the Al Dhaheri family of the UAE. In the same month, packaged foods company Sattviko acquired outfit curation portal StylSpot to strengthen its technology platform.
In January, online food discovery platform Ketchupp raised Rs 3 crore ($440,000) in seed funding led by early-stage investment firm India Quotient.
In December 2016, food delivery startup Mr. Hot Foods raised seed funding from angel investor Pawan Raj Kumar through the IvyCamp platform.
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