Kahini Chakraborty – Mumbai
Even though the current market of online food ordering in India is at a nascent stage, many venture capitalist firms are supporting entrepreneurs entering this segment, each having a different value proposition. Markets such as Mumbai and Bengaluru have seen the emergence of start-ups like holachef.com and swiggy.com. Launched in September 2014, holachef.com has raised an early stage funding of rupees two crores from India Quotient. While Saif Partners and Accel Partners have invested US$ two million in swiggy.com.
Elaborating on the start-ups expansion plan, Saurabh Saxena, founder – CEO, holachef.com said, “Presently we operate in Andheri and Chembur, Malad, Mulund, Ghatkopar-Powai. Going forward, the intent is to expand in Mumbai steadily before venturing to other cities later this year. We have close to 70 chefs listed on our online platform, while in aggregate we have 170 chefs. Presently we receive more than 400 orders and intend to reach 2000-3000 orders by this calendar year. Our USP is our menus that change everyday and portion size of meals are for one person only. The meals are priced at Rs 200 for vegetarian and Rs 300 for non-vegetarian.”
While Sriharsha Majety, co-founder and CEO, Swiggy added, “Once we’ve consolidated our position as an efficient ordering platform by fuelling our growth, strengthening our team and developing our infrastructure, we’re aiming to make our presence felt across several cities. Swiggy sets itself apart from the competition by having its own delivery fleet. Our delivery executives are smartphone equipped and their deliveries are facilitated by an algorithm designed in-house to maximise efficiency.”