Funding story

Founded by November 2014 by ex-Zomato CMO Alok Jain and Abhimanyu Maheshwari, Yumist recently managed to bag a significant boost by raising $2 million in pre Series A led by Ronnie Screwvala’s Unilazer Ventures. Among other participants included existing investors Orios Venture Parnter’s Steven Lurio. Yumist currently services Gurgaon, Delhi and Bengaluru. The raised funding is expected to bring about an expansion of the startup’s services in these cities, besides aiding in expansion to Mumbai and Pune.

About Yumist’s services

Like many other food tech startups, Yumist seeks to target the mass market, with emphasis on daily meals. The target isn’t the average connoisseur who seeks diverse experiences for his palate, but rather urban workers and students. Many of them are in need of cheap and nutritious food which can be delivered to them at short notice. This market is rapidly expanding, with most people being unable to get the comforts of home-cooked meals nowadays. Yumist also handles the entire process of food ordering in-house. This involves cooking, storage and delivery. This protects it from the likely hassle that would be engendered by having to tie up with logistics chain and availing of their convoluted working processes. According to Jain and Maheswari, this market is a lot bigger than the restaurant dining segment which the likes of Zomato and FoodPanda cater to. Aware of the difficulty which many food tech startups face, especially in the embryonic stages, Yumist seeks to reduce the cost involved in delivery by the use of advanced technology. In order to scale up rapidly to a Pan-Indian basis, Yumist intends to expand via small “zones” in select areas where the daily meal segment shows maximum promise.

The bottom line

Yumist is also building a new kitchen in the NCR area, after which the startup is expected to be capable of handling 30,000 orders per day. Yumist’s careful targeting of the right segment, and its emphasis on technological innovation is likely to see it become a major player in the tricky food tech sector.

For booking their services, download the Android app, or visit the Yumist website.