DropKaffe secures $300K in angel funding

DropKaffe, an online startup that delivers brewed coffee and refreshments within Bangalore, has raised $300,000 in seed funding led by angel investor Manish Singhal and US-based venture capital firm P39 Capital.

Angel investors from U.S, India and Singapore have also put money in this round, as a per a press statement.

DropKaffe Food and Beverages Pvt Ltd, the firm behind DropKafee, will use the funding to hire more staffers and expand services within Bangalore.

DropKaffe was co-founded by Rakshit Kejriwal, Lakshmi Dasaka, Chaitanya Chitta and Amar Yashlaha five months back. Prior to DropKaffe, the team worked together at SmartOn Learning, an education technology startup that was part of TechStars Accelerator in New York last year.

"The growing on-demand behaviour coupled with increasing appetite for coffee and cafe style food gives us an opportunity to build a unique and differentiated business. We are democratising the Starbucks experience through DropKaffe," said Lakshmi. DropKaffee claims to be India's first online coffee shop. It allows customers to order freshly brewed coffee through its website.

The startup has two full fulfilment centres in Koramangala and Indiranagar (both in Bangalore) and plans to have 10 such centres in the city by October, the statement said. Since inception, DropKaffe has served over 50,000 coffees and 80 per cent of its revenue comes from repeat purchases, the company claims. It offers 50 different types of coffees along with burgers, bakes and non-caffeine beverages.

"We are fully integrated from sourcing the coffees directly from the estates to delivering a freshly brewed coffee to the customer. Our vision is to build a coffee brand that will delight our customers through product and technology innovation. From sourcing to roasting to brewing to delivering, we are innovating at every step of the way," said Lakshmi.

The company claims to deliver within 30 minutes. It is gunning for 20-minute delivery once the new fulfillment centres are operational. DropKaffee is also in the process of developing a mobile app.

"During my discussions with the team, I found them to be savvy, thorough and methodical in their approach. With their ability to deliver consistently high quality food and beverage, I believe, they offer better choice and convenience for Indian consumers and by doing so they're poised to become market leaders in this space," said Ray Nathan, partner at P39 Capital.

P39 capital, which was founded earlier this year, is a San Francisco-based seed fund that invests in seed and early stage ventures. Food-tech ventures have become a preferred bastion for VC investments. Startups in this space either offer an ordering platform from restaurants or run their own kitchens/cafes. Some, serve ready-to-cook or ready-to-serve meal boxes.

Recently, Mumbai-based Lollypop Foods Pvt Ltd, which runs a delivery-only Chinese fast food venture under the brand Noodle Play, raised Rs 1 crore ($160,000) in angel funding. In April this year, Bangalore-based Bundl Technologies Pvt Ltd, which owns and operates online food ordering startup Swiggy.com, had raised $2 million (Rs 12.5 crore) from SAIF Partners and Accel Partners in its seed round of funding. In May, Mumbai-based Poncho Hospitality Pvt. Ltd, which owns and operates a quick service restaurant (QSR) chain under the brand name of Box8 and positions itself as an on-demand food delivery services firm, raised $3.5 million (RS 22 crore) in Series A round of funding from early-stage venture capital firm Mayfield.