Ahmedabad-based startup Food Memories to go for Series A funding

To utilise funds for expansion of its 'geographically unique Indian food' vendor network

Looking to tap 10 per cent of the Rs 50,000 crore Indian sweets and savories market through an expanded vendor network, Ahmedabad-based startup Food Memories will be going for a Series A funding soon of around Rs 2 crore.

An online marketplace for authentic geographically unique Indian foods with shelf life of five days and higher, Food Memories acts as an aggregator platform for renowned brands and delicacies of Indian food industry as well as deliver the same to customers both domestically and internationally.

Offering mostly sweets and savories of higher shelf life that are geographically unique, Food Memories features renowned food items like Rasgullas from KC Das (Kolkata), Ratlami Sev from Prakash Namkeen (Indore), Pethas from Pethawala (Agra), Gulab Pak from Khawda Sweets (Kutch), Shrewsberry Cookies from City Bakery (Pune), Vanilla Laddoos from Gopal Sweets (Chandigarh), and Kaju Katri from Jai Hind Sweets (Ahmedabad), among others.

"The startup will look to bring food items and vendors who have a minimum history of 40-50 years and have a shelf life of over five days," Harmitsingh Sikh, Founder & CEO, Food Memories.

According to Sikh, while the startup raised roughly Rs 1 crore of corpus, it has plans to now raise Rs 2 crore further to fund its expansion plans.

"We currently have a vendor network of around 105 in more than 13 states. In the next two years, we want the same to be over 250 across 20 states. For this, we have plans to raise more money in a Series A funding. Apart from expanding vendor network, we want to invest further in marketing services, packaging, courier service and customer service," said Sikh.

To service more than 10,000 national and international postal codes, Food Memories has tied up with multiple logistics partners.

According to Malav Desai, Chief Operating Officer, Food Memories, the startup looks to tap the increasing migration of professionals and workforce to different parts of India. "There is also an ever growing Indian and South Asian diaspora in Europe, Americas, Africa and within Asia. As they say, you can never take the Gujarat out of a Gujarati, Punjab out of a Punjabi or Bengal out of a Bengali. Festivals and food are our most important link that maintains our connection to our culture and roots. The idea is that a person sitting in any part of the world must be able to relish authentic flavours that connect with his/her native food and culture, which is what makes 'Food Memories' a wholesome business proposition," said Desai.

Moreover, in order to reduce operation costs and avoid losses, Food Memories does not store the food with itself. Instead, once an order is placed, the food item is picked up from the vendor through the logistics partner and delivered directly to the customer. The startup claims to deliver same day in the same city and within 48 hours in any other city within the country, while internationally it has set a delivery period of 4-5 days.

Going forward, Food Memories is anticipating to touch around 2000 daily orders of worth Rs 500 each.