Gurugram-based online food discovery and delivery startup InnerChef has raised around ₹13 crores ($1.76 million) in a fresh funding round led by existing investor Japanese venture capital firm and accelerator Mistletoe, as reported by VCCircle.
Mistletoe is owned and funded by serial entrepreneur Taizo Son, the brother of the Japanese investment giant Softbank‘s founder and CEO Masayoshi Son.
Other investors that participated in the round include Singapore-based VC firm M&S Partners, along with a new Japanese investor Das Capital. Other investors remain undisclosed.
The latest fundraising round is expected to value the startup at around ₹184 crores ($25 million).
The report has not yet been confirmed either by InnerChef or Mistletoe.
InnerChef was founded by Rajesh Sawhney, Founder and CEO of GSF Accelerator, Bal DiGhent, and Sanjeev Singhal in 2015. It provides a platform for users to discover a wide array of food and order the food to be delivered at their doorsteps.
It also offers cuisines of modern India, authentic European, delicious Mediterranean, and flavourful Asian. The startup provides ready-to-eat meals and rich gourmet experience through its wide range of food options.
The foodtech startup is operational in Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Mumbai, serving more than 100,000 meals per month.
Earlier in March 2016, InnerChef had acquired another food delivery startup EatOnGo and a food truck company Flavour Labs, strengthening its operations.
The startup previously raised an undisclosed amount of funds in a funding round from Ukraine-based Chernovetskyi Investment Group in August 2017. Earlier in October 2016, InnerChef raised $2.5 million in series A funding round from Mistletoe and Das Capital.
Other players in the food delivery space competing with InnerChef include the foodtech giants Swiggy and Zomato, along with Foodpanda, and UberEATS.
In June 2018, Swiggy raised $210 million in series B round led by DST Global and Naspers. It was also reported in August 2018, that Swiggy was in talks with investors to raise $500 million.
In February 2018, Zomato had raised $200 million from Ant Financial, an investment arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.