Exclusive: NB Ventures leads funding round in cloud kitchen startup BigSpoon

Ahmedabad-based cloud kitchen startup BigSpoon Foods has secured a pre-Series A funding of $2 million (Rs 15 crore) from Dubai-based early-stage investor NB Ventures. 

Boutique investment banking firm CreedCap Asia Advisors; Zed Capital, an early-stage fund floated by the founders of Beardo; Sanjiv Bajaj, joint chairman and managing director of Bajaj Capital; Bhanu Chopra, founder and chairman of RateGain; and Jatin Aneja, senior partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas have participated in this round. 

“The infusion of new funds would help us reach our geographical growth targets for 30 cities and 50 outlets by the end of the financial year. Bigspoon has created a full-stack solution for cloud kitchens, with own brands, brand-as-a-service and kitchen-as-a-service verticals. We would deploy the fresh capital towards leadership hiring, geographical expansion in key markets, tech-stack for virtual food court, and kitchen automation,” Kapil Mathrani, CEO and co-founder of BigSpoon told TechCircle. 

Founded in 2019 by Mathrani, Rohan Bhatt, and Poojan Thakkar, BigSpoon focuses on tier II cities with seven brands including Makhni Brothers (North Indian cuisine), Oven & Grill (pizzas, burgers, sandwiches) and Meals101 (global cuisines bowl meals). 

BigSpoon is currently present in seven states -- Gujarat, Maharashtra, MP, Rajasthan, UP, Chandigarh and Telangana -- with outlets in Ahmedabad, Vadodra, Surat, Jaipur, Indore, Lucknow, Nagpur, Pune, Chandigarh and Hyderabad.  

The multi-brand virtual kitchen platform claims to serve over 50,000 diners every month. 

Mathrani said it plans to expand services to Kanpur, Bhopal, Ghaziabad, Noida, Udaipur, Mysore, Vijayawada, and Bhubaneshwar.
 
NB Ventures, led by Neelesh Bhatnagar, has been investing in India for more than five years. It has backed startups such as LetsTransport (logistics), HealthifyMe (healthech), Qriyo Infolabs (edtech), Ryan EduNation (edtech), Purplle (beauty products marketplace), Teabox (speciality tea e-tailer), and IDfy (background verification firm).

“Our expertise in the food-tech sector and their focus on a full-stack solution around a multi-brand portfolio and ‘kitchen-as-a-service’ have great synergy with our unified vision for international expansion. Bigspoon has a brilliant team with automation capabilities which is reflected in their high retention and revenue growth over the past two quarters,” Bhatnagar, managing director of NB Ventures, said. 

In December last year, the startup’s existing investor Urmin Family Office bought additional shares in the startup in a secondary transaction that helped LV Angel Fund, LetsVenture’s maiden angel fund, score its first exit for accredited angel investors.

As part of the transaction, Nisarg Shah-led syndicate sold 20% of its holding in BigSpoon Foods to Urmin Family Office, offering Investors who backed the syndicate’s investment a 5x return in 12 months.