Exclusive: Food-tech startup Mr. Hot Foods gets seed funding

Food delivery startup Mr. Hot Foods Pvt. Ltd has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from angel investor Pawan Raj Kumar through the IvyCamp platform, a top company executive told Techcircle.

Co-founder Pankaj Sharma said that Kumar's addition as a mentor has helped the startup understand the dynamics of the food and beverages industry.

Mr. Hot Foods was founded in 2014 by IIT Kharagpur alumni Sharma and Achal Bansal. Kumar, an alumnus of IIT-Delhi and IIM-Lucknow, is an active investor and has worked with several quick service restaurant (QSR) chains and restaurants earlier. He recently founded Supa Star Foods Pvt Ltd, which runs the brand Supa Corn.

Mr. Hot Foods delivers food ordered via its app from local restaurants and tiffin centres in standardised packaging. The vendors get training from professional chefs and access to analytics and technology to handle operations efficiently.

The startup operates in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, and Kota, Rajasthan. It claims to deliver nearly 1,300 meals a day. The company either charges 4% of the total order cost or a fixed monthly fee from vendors.

This fundraise was facilitated by IvyCamp, an innovation and entrepreneurship platform by IvyCap Ventures, which connects entrepreneurs with mentors, investors and incubation centres through the global alumni networks of institutes such as IITs, IIMs, ISB and BITS Pilani.

IvyCamp had also helped startups such as payments firm FTCash and furniture rental startup Grabonrent raise funds in the past.

IvyCap Ventures is raising its second fund of Rs 600 crore. It has previously raised and deployed Rs 250 crore in its maiden fund last year. Its other investments are in Aujas Networks, FieldEz Solutions, Vinculum, E-Shakti, Leixir Labs, Purplle.com, Sokrati, Bluestone, Clovia and Taskbob.

The online food ordering business in India is estimated to be worth around Rs 6,000 crore, growing at about 30% month on month, according to a report by India Brand Equity Foundation, released earlier this year. However, this segment is transaction-driven and margins are wafer-thin.

The food-tech segment, however, has seen strong interest from investors in the past few months, despite being in troubled waters for weak unit economics.

Last week, MonkeyBox Food Tech Pvt. Ltd, which delivers healthy food for children, raised an undisclosed amount in seed investment from early-stage investor Blume Ventures and a clutch of wealthy individuals.

In September, food-tech startup Idea Chakki Pvt. Ltd secured an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Ratan Tata, interim chairman of Tata Sons.

In August, Mumbai-based packaged food startup Yumlane raised nearly Rs 6.6 crore ($1 million) in a seed round of funding led by Flipkart co-founder and CEO Binny Bansal and others.