Mumbai-based cloud kitchen startup Yumlane has raised funding of $1 million in a pre-Series A round from Singapore-based fund Jetty Ventures. The Qwikpik Technology Pvt Ltd owned company plans to use the fresh capital for expansion in new cities and hiring.
Yumlane (1) currently has over 30 PoDs across Pune and Bangalore. Hitesh Ahuja, the Founder & CEO at Yumlane, stated that they believe that cloud kitchen format would become the flag bearer of the food services industry in the near future with more and more consumers ordering online food delivery vis-a-vis eat out.
Founded in March 2016 by Rahul Kumar, Hitesh Ahuja, and Rueben Ghosh, Yumlane is a company that offers hot snacks and meals like momos and pizza all across its retail points.
From packaged FMCG to cloud kitchen business
Yumlane focuses on selling new foods to Millenials, rushing moms, and busy professionals who pick take-out for consuming food.
Jetty Venture’s Managing Partner Chirag Meswani, said, “Cloud kitchens will be a capital-efficient format for this thesis to play out.”
Meswani added that both Indian and global markets had shown a clear consumer preference towards the order-in for not-so-occasional meals.
The Food & Beverage industry has witnessed the QSR format carve a significant share in the eat-out food services space, especially in the organized chain segment.
Yumlane previously raised funding from Binny Bansal, Co-Founder & former CEO at Flipkart, RB Investments, and Orios Venture Partners.
The food platform that started out as an FMCG packaged food startup changed its business model to a cloud kitchen in early 2019.
Meswani further added, “Yumlane’s operations since its pivot to the cloud kitchen model in January 2019 has shown demand from the consumers. It can deliver hygiene at scale, and we see the venture benefit from the post-COVID consumer preferences.”
