RailYatri, a Noida-based crowd-sourced platform that provides train-related travel information, has acqui-hired food-delivery technology startup YatraChef.
YatraChef’s team will now manage the pan-India supply side of RailYatri’s in-transit delivery business, the companies said in a statement.
The deal value is not disclosed.
"RailYatri brings in customers and data while we are good at supply side logistics. We had worked with other third-party players earlier and has delivered to over 10 lakh customers so far," Arun Rajan, who is CEO of YatraChef, told VCCircle.
RailYatri, which is operated by Stelling Technologies Pvt. Ltd, has been looking to monetise its large customer base and YatraChef will strengthen its supply-side commerce capabilities as it continues to add offerings to its travel marketplace, it said.
"YatraChef brings more than four years of experience in food delivery and vendor management. It will help us develop offerings that would improve last-mile capability in becoming a critical player in commerce marketplaces," said Manish Rathi, CEO and co-founder of RailYatri.
Founded in May 2013 by Arun Rajan and Rameez Ashraf, Kochi-based YatraChef has 32 employees.
YatraChef, which is run by 11th Hour Innovations Pvt. Ltd, has been managing RailYatri’s food delivery business at railway stations for over two years.
YatraChef has operations in 145 railway stations across the country, Rajan said.
The firm will look at delivering medicines and books, among other things, in the future, he said.
RailYatri was founded by Kapil Raizada, Sachin Saxena and Rathi in 2011. It provides information on trains, passenger amenities at stations, platforms and trains’ speed as well as alerts via mobile app, web and SMS.
In 2015, RailYatri raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-Series A round of funding led by Helion Venture Partners, Blume Ventures and Omidyar Network. In October 2016, it raised a follow-on round of funding from all its existing investors—Nandan Nilekani, Helion Ventures, Omidyar Partners and Blume Ventures.
