Online catering company BerryKitchen has secured $1.25 million (more than 16 billion Rupiah) Series A investment from Sovereign’s Capital. Existing investor East Ventures also involved in this round. The fund will be utilized to accelerate BerrryKitchen’s growth, to open additional kitchen and expand geographical reach. It targets to grow its business five-fold by June 2016.
Founded by Cynthia Tenggara, BerryKitchen received 500 million Rupiah seed funding from Angel Investor Network Indonesia (ANGIN) around 16 months ago. It has aggressively maintained its growth, served around 800-900 lunch packs per day around six months ago. Altogether, BerryKitchen has serveed more than 245,000 lunch boxes to 7,000 customers.
“Within a year, we aim to serve 5 times as many people per day. We will open additional kitchens to help achieve this target, which will expand our geographic reach well beyond where it is today,” said Cynthia Tenggara, BerryKitchen’s Co-Founder and CEO.
To reach the target, BerryKitchen to apply a number of key certifications to help company scales exponentially.
Tenggara also mentioned the need of expanding the team. “To achieve all the targets, certainly we need to expand our team, both in number and in quality, so we’re looking forward to hiring the right people for the right position, especially to strengthen our operational and technology team,” she said.
On why Sovereign’s Capital invested on BerryKitchen, Luke Roush, Co-Founder and Managing Principal of Sovereign’s Capital, commented, “We are thrilled to be partnering with BerryKitchen. Our fund seeks to invest in great teams that are tackling big, growing markets. BerryKitchen is a new and fresh concept, and their technology platform for scaling alongside a lean approach to ‘full-stack’ integration is compelling. We believe that this concept is something that a lot of Jakartans are looking for – high-quality food, at a reasonable price, delivered right to your doorstep.”
East Ventures’ Willson Cuaca, BerryKitchen’s existing investor, added, “We are welcoming Sovereign’s Capital and team to BerryKitchen to help Cynthia and Ivan move forward to the next milestone. Food business is an essential for urban lifestyle and coupled with technology it enhances the order, delivery and consuming experience. But above all, BerryKitchen food tastes good.”
Ready-to-Cook menu
BerryKitchen recently introduced its latest product, the Ready-To-Cook menu. With this option, customers who wants to cook but thinking that it is a hassle to buy groceries and not sure what to do with excess ingredients can simply order a menu, have it delivered, and cook according to the recipe instructions. BerryKitchen staff will do all the shopping, portioning, and measuring, and they will alternate the menu every Friday.
As food catering company, BerryKitchen is not only a food delivery service. Still, the food delivery segment has grown into very interesting market, with globally more than $1 billion investment has been poured last year.
With all the hassle and traffic jam in Jakarta, it’s not that difficult to predict this business segment will be blossoming. “In Jakarta, because we realize that eating out for lunch could be costly, but not everyone has the privilege to bring their own home-cooked meals. So we decided to help solve that problem for them – by providing tasty, healthy food, with affordable price,” Tenggara said.