Online meal delivery startup SpoonJoy raises $1 million from SAIF partners

Bangalore-based Emvito Technologies Pvt Ltd, which operates SpoonJoy, a subscription-based online platform that allows office goers and other consumers order meal packs such as set cut-fruit packs, has raised $1 million from SAIF Partners.

With the new round of funding, SpoonJoy plans to expand to Delhi and Mumbai in the next two months. It is currently operational only in its home city.

In December 2014, the company had raised an undisclosed amount from Flipkart co-founder and CEO Sachin Bansal and chief product officer Mekin Maheshwari with participation from Sahil Barua, co-founder of Delhivery and Abhishek Goyal, founder of Tracxn.

SpoonJoy was launched in April 2013 by Manish Jethani, former AVP (catalogue) at FashionandYou.com. In the past, he had also worked at companies including UrbanTouch.com, Chakpak.com (whose catalogue was acquired by Flipkart) and TransBit Technologies. Jethani later roped in his IIT Roorkee batchmates Sourabh Agarwal, Prateek Agrawal and Kanishk Tyagi as co-founders.

It is a subscription service to get meals at customers' doorsteps. Users can sign in and select food of their choice from the number of items listed on the site, including fruits, sprouts, lunch packs and snacks. Once an item is picked, the user can enter his/her area code in the corresponding column. The startup will then deliver the items at the customers' doorsteps.

Currently it claims to be serving 700-750 orders a day with eight kitchens across Bangalore. In December, it had said it receives 350-400 orders a day, of which almost 90 per cent came from offices, while the remaining from homes.

The company earns revenue both from the subscription model where users can sign up for the month or pay-as-you order.

The concept of internet-first restaurants is picking pace in India with many players including FreshMenu, Yumist and Frsh going aggressive to lead the newly emerging food sector.

According to data from a market research firm Technopak Advisors, the Indian food service market is estimated to grow to Rs 5.05 lakh crore by 2020 at a compounded annual growth rate of 11 per cent.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)