Funding story
Homemade meals in India are renowned for their diversity, deliciousness and excellent quality. But while many of those involved in cooking homemade meals can give numerous professional chefs in many a famous restaurant a run for their money, a general lack of awareness about their products results in the underutilization of their services. Gurgaon-based food tech startup MealHopper seeks to change this by allowing for the pre-ordering of homemade meals. The startup has succeeded in raising $100,000 in seed funding from ixigo.com co-founders Alok Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar, with Amit Dey, CEO of General Mobile Technologies also putting his money in the round. MealHopper aims to use the funding to expand its services across the NCR region, and make additions to its existing team to enhance the technology being used.
About MealHopper’s services
Set up by Avinash Singh and Aatish Kumar earlier this year, MealHopper aims to present homemade meals to interested, paying customers. Currently, MealHopper has around 50 homemakers affiliated to it, whose specialties are clearly highlighted on the site itself. An extensive verification process involving tasting sessions is used to select interested homemakers.
MealHopper makes ordering meals very easy, and the meals are delivered right at the customer’s place, who also gets to choose the time of delivery. Home cooks share their meal-making plans in advance, allowing customers to either choose a particular meal, or to subscribe to home-made meals on a weekly basis. The MealHopper App is easily downloadable on Android/Windows smartphones.
Expansion plans, and the status of the food tech sector
MealHopper plans to open services in three more cities by March 2016, and ensure the delivery of over 100 meals per day. The food tech space is seeing a lot of stiff competition of late, with many promising entrants in the fray. MealHopper’s direct competitors include BiteClub , Yumist and SpoonJoy , which all aim to entice customers to order food from home kitchens.
The verdict
With its easy to use platform which allows customers to sample homemade meals belonging to a diverse range, MealHopper is revolutionizing food ordering by extending it to a wider, healthier variety of meals. It also harnesses the hugely underrated abilities of Indian home cooks. Meal ordering in India can look forward to a tastier, healthier future thanks to MealHopper.
