Hyderabad-based OYCHEF has secured a sum of Rs.2.5 crore seed funding from GrowthStories and other undisclosed investors, the company said in a statement on Monday.
The company said that it is planning to raise around Rs 10 crore to accelerate its future growth plans. The startup plans to expand to Bengaluru and Goa by 2022, and to Mumbai and Delhi by 2023. It also plans to appoint 350 chefs and 1000 freelancer chefs, of which 45 have already been onboarded.
Jayesh Ranjan, the Principal Secretary of the Industries & Commerce (I&C) and Information Technology (IT) departments of the Telangana government formally launched the service in Hyderabad.
OYCHEF is a private chef services app with which customers can book the services of chefs. The app will be available in Google Play Store and the App Store.
It plans to explore partnerships with big apartment complexes and other institutions to grow its business.
"With changing consumer expectations, food consumption behaviour during the pandemic, startups like OYCHEF have unlocked a major category, leading to new employment opportunities, and added economic contributors in cities like Hyderabad and others,” said Ranjan in the statement.
“What made us commit to OYCHEF is their sustainable business model and the road map to create the largest personal chef marketplace on the web and decentralise the culinary industry, make it accessible to all, help professional chefs grow, and reduce their financial dependence on restaurants,” said Vinay Kotra and Sainath Goud Malkapuram, Co-founders, GrowthStories.
It was founded in 2021 by Sainath Goud Malkapuram, Vinay Kotra, Manoj Yadav, and James Johnson, all serial entrepreneurs who also co-founded HR company BigLeap Technology Solutions.
In similar deals, earlier this month Nucros Science and Taste raised pre-seed funding led by Aavejak Adviser, ID8Ventures and others.
