Delhivery co-founders invest in regional delicacy marketplace Food Memories

Food Memories, an online marketplace for Indian delicacies, has raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from a consortium of eight investors led by Bhavesh Manglani and Suraj Saharan, the co-founders of logistics firm Delhivery.

The other investors in the Ahmedabad-headquartered Food Memories include legal professionals, investment bankers and entrepreneurs.

The company said in a statement that it would the money to accelerate its expansion plans. It will also invest in setting up physical retail stories in major Indian cities.

Founded in September 2016 by Harmitsingh Sikh, Food Memories aggregrates popular regional food brands and delicacies unique to particular Indian geographies.

“With the Indian sweets and savouries market pegged at Rs 50,000 crore and a promising $30 billion export food market, Food Memories is uniquely placed to capitalise on growing demand for delicacies of iconic local brands/establishments,” Delhivery co-founder Manglani said.

Owned and operated by One Click Innovations Pvt. Ltd, the platform features more than 200 major brands and more than 3,000 Indian food products. It delivers these items to customers across the globe.

“We’re now operational in 26 states across India and with the support of our investors, our first retail touch point will come up in Ahmedabad followed by gradual expansion to strong demand centres in the country”, said Sikh, who is also Food Memories’ chief executive officer.

A number of ventures in the broader food and beverage (F&B) segment have attracted investment in recent months.
Bangalore-headquartered HungerBox, an online platform that connects caterers and corporates, raised $2.5 million (Rs 16 crore) in a pre-Series A funding round led by Singapore-based Lionrock Capital last month.

Pune-based HW Wellness Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which owns and operates health foods startup True Elements, raised Rs 5 crore ($788,500) in a pre-Series A funding round led by the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group in the same month.

January also witnessed Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia investing Rs 152 crore ($23 million) in Southern Health Foods, which markets its products under the brand ‘Manna Foods’.

Last December, Ratan Tata-backed speciality tea e-tailer Teabox.com, operated by Bengaluru- and Singapore-based AsianTeaxpress Pte. Ltd, raised $7 million (Rs 45 crore) in a Series B round from Singapore-headquartered investment firm RB Investments and existing investors.

In the same month, Delhi-based tea e-tailer Vahdam Teas Pvt. Ltd had raised $1.4 million (Rs 9 crore) in a Series A round of funding led by existing investor Fireside Ventures.