Excl: Location-based food ordering startup TinyOwl raises $3M Series A funding from Sequoia, Nexus

TinyOwl Technology Pvt Ltd, a Mumbai-based startup that offers a location-based mobile app for food ordering, has secured $3 million in its Series A round of funding from Sequoia Capital and Nexus Venture Partners, sources privy to the development told Techcircle.in.

It is not immediately clear how TinyOwl is planning to use the funds. When contacted, TinyOwl co-founder Harshvardhan Mandad and Nexus spokesperson declined to comment. An e-mail sent to Sequoia did not elicit any response till the time of publishing this article.

TinyOwl was founded by a group of IIT Bombay alumni, including Mandad. It  is an Android app that enables users to order food via their mobile devices. The startup claims that its app can detect the users' locations and show restaurants in their vicinity.

It offers both card and cash-on-delivery payment options to customers. The app can also suggest exclusive orders and deals to customers, and saves their address and card details securely so that they can save time while placing orders again.

The service is currently available only in certain locations in Mumbai that include Powai, Andheri, Ghatkopar, Vikhroli, Kanjurmarg, Mulund, Bhandup, Jogeshwari, Goregaon and Malad.

Online food ordering is one of the hottest sectors in India that has seen a lot of action, of late. Most companies operating in this space have already received millions in funding. Leading players in the space include Rocket Internet-backed Foodpanda.com, Axon Partners Group-backed JustEat.in, and Delivery Hero-backed TastyKhana.

Foodpanda is already present in 33 cities and has partnerships with 4,500 restaurants, while JustEat has operations in 10 cities with more than 2,500 restaurants in its kitty.

Recently, Mumbai-based online business directory Just Dial also forayed into this segment.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)