InnerChef raises Rs 43 Cr Pre-Series B funding led by a clutch of investors

The fresh funding raised by InnerChef will be used to strengthen the brand portfolio.

Online cloud-kitchen platform InnerChef has raised Rs 43 crore (approx $6.17 million) in a Pre-Series B funding led by multiple investors - Mistletoe, Saha Capital, Das Capital, Brand Capital and M&S Partners. 

Rajesh Sawhney, Sanjeev Singhal and Bal DiGhent founded InnerChef in 2015. Today, InnerChef has several brands under it - Bombay Sandwich Company, YumYumDili, YumYum South, Thalis of India and Healthie. 

Rajesh Sawhney, Founder and CEO, InnerChef, said in a press statement, “InnerChef’s multi-brand strategy has delivered outstanding results in 2018. The fresh funding will be used to strengthen the brand portfolio. Healthie, for instance, has become a category-defining brand in 2018. We are also using the fresh round of funding to further strengthen our shared kitchen platform across India.” 

When Co-founders Rajesh, Sanjeev Singhal and Bal DiGhent were looking for ideas before starting up InnerChef, they first thought of an ingredient box. The idea was to send a box filled with prepped ingredients in the perfect amount required to create a dish, the recipe for which would also be provided. 

This concept was launched in April 2015, but within a few months, the trio realised that the model would take time to scale, and that the Indian market would take close to five years to warm up to the idea. That is how InnerChef moved on to become an online internet kitchen.  

While a part of InnerChef, Healthie started operations in August last year and works differently from the core InnerChef business. A team of six women curates all the meals, which are then rolled out from 18 kitchens across Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Noida, Delhi, and Gurgaon. 

The healthy foods market is fast picking up in India. As of 2016, the healthy foods market in India touched Rs 10,000 crore in revenue. While this is less than 10 percent of the overall food market, many believe it will pick up pace in the coming years.