Excl: AntFarm buys online food delivery venture, in talks to raise up to $30M afresh

Mumbai-based hybrid startup incubation platform AntFarm, which has been building new ventures from scratch, has tweaked its model to acquire an unnamed online food ordering service company. The firm is now also in talks with investors to raise $20-30 million in its next round of funding, a top executive of the company told Techcircle.in.

Rishi Khiani, managing director and chief executive officer of AntFarm, declined to disclose the name of the company it has acquired, but he said the venture in its new avatar will get involved into delivery of food mostly for high-end restaurants who do not offer delivery services to customers so far. It would strike exclusive partnership with restaurants for the service.

He did not provide details on the current business model of the acquired firm and whether it serves at the back-end technology or offers a platform for online food ordering.

Some online food delivery and ordering ventures in India include Rocket Internet-backed Foodpanda, JustEat, TastyKhana and Deliverychef.

Talking about the delivery platform, Khiani said that this company will ensure that the food is not only delivered in areas of close proximity but to distant places within travel time of approximately one hour. It will have a web interface as well as an app.

In the meantime, AntFarm is also in talks to raise up to $30 million in the next six months, Khiani said.

In August the firm had raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding from Bay Capital and Hausela Capital Partners. Before that it has raised an angel round of funding from Bennett Coleman & Co. Limited's outgoing CEO Ravi Dhariwal and serial entrepreneur Sanjay Kalra.

The fresh round of funding will be used to reinforce the current portfolio and grow upcoming businesses. Some of the amount will go back into the companies that have been incubated.

Set up in November 2012 by Khiani, Ant Farm is a hybrid startup platform that brings together people, helps in ideation or scaling up an existing idea and sees through its execution. The accelerator claims that it has built profitable business units with its two portfolio ventures—Stylista.com, a fashion label, and Fork Media, a native advertising platform.

It recently added three ventures: ClickZoot, Uber Dreams and Revofit to its network. Click here for more on these three businesses.