//

The development comes amidst the reports of massive layoffs and restructuring at foodpanda, Zomato, TinyOwl and others

Yumist Co-founders Abhimanyu Maheshwari (L) and Alok Jain

Recently, several foodtech startups in India — including older players such as foodpanda and Zomato and new entrants like TinyOwl — have slimmed down their operations by laying off staff and winding up certain departments to arrest the increasing cash burn — indicating turbulent times ahead. But not all is lost yet, as the kinds of funds being poured into the vertical indicate.

Just hours after The Economic Times reported the closing of US$30-million funding by leading tech-based QSR chain Faaso’s, Yumist — a relatively new player that offers an online platform for home-style meals — has also closed US$2 million in a pre-Series A round led by Ronnie Screwvala’s fund Unilazer Ventures.

Existing investor Orios Venture Partners joined the round, along with Silicon Valley-based investor Steven Lurie.

Also Read: Startup in Spotlight: Yumist is a food-meets-tech-meets-logistics startup

Yumist will use the funds to build the team, expand its footprint and also for brand building.

Yumist was founded in November 2014 by Alok Jain, a technology entrepreneur and Abhimanyu Maheshwari, a seasoned F&B entrepreneur.

The startup serves home-style meals prepped in its own kitchens at price points of around INR 65 (US$1). The firm claims to be able to deliver food within 30 minutes of placing the order.

Customer can place orders on the web as well as on its mobile app.

Having piloted its offering in select localities of Gurgaon until March this year, Yumist has now expanded to all of Gurgaon, Delhi and Bangalore. It claims to have created a unique supply chain model optimised for Indian home-style food to be delivered fresh and hot.

Also Read: Once VCs’ favourite dish, has Indian foodtech bitten off more than it can chew?

“While everyone was writing off foodtech in India, we kept our heads down and focussed on building a profitably-scalable business while staying true to the customer problem. This approach helped us grow organically and maintain a low-cash burn,” said Maheshwari, Founder and COO of Yumist.

The post Indian foodtech still tasty as Yumist eats up US$2M funding appeared first on e27.

from e27 http://ift.tt/1ltc9ge