'Chilled, not frozen' ready-to-cook player Fingerlix to raise Series B for expansion

The start-up seeks to differentiate itself by reducing cooking work for homemakers, yet allowing them to control the outcome

Fingerlix, a ready-to-cook food start-up, has launched freshly cooked and chilled “centre of the plate” foods such as idli-dosa batters, curries, dal, parathas and pasta sauces prepared in a mechanised kitchen.

Co-founded by former Coca-Cola marketing head Shripad Nadkarni, the start-up has raised $1.4 million through seed and angel funding, and now plans to go for a Series B funding by the year-end.

“Homemakers’ roles have changed of late because of which they now want to reduce the slog but still control the outcome in their kitchen. Ready-to-eat food is ordered once in a while but it cannot become the norm. It also allows homemakers the scope for cooking the dishes further and adding condiments,” said Nadkarni.

With a shelf life of five days, the Fingerlix products come fresh with no preservatives added. “These are chilled and not frozen because frozen in India is still considered stale. Hence, these products are to be kept in the dairy section,” he added.

While it currently markets its products through 25 modern trade outlets of Hypercity, Reliance Fresh and Big Bazaar among others in Mumbai, the start-up plans to make a foray into other cities where it would supply chilled ready-to-cook products prepared at centralised kitchens. Fingerlix will supply from Mumbai until central kitchens come up in cities such as Pune, Bengaluru and Delhi.

In the next five years, Fingerlix is hoping to amass revenues of Rs 800-1,000 crore in the estimated $200-billion “centre of the plate” Indian food market. “If you want to be big in food then you have to be in the ‘centre of the plate’ category where products form a part of breakfast, lunch or dinner. Hence, even in future we will continue to introduce products in this category like rice dishes and snacks,” said Nadkarni.

Fingerlix markets through two major distribution channels — modern trade and its own mobile- and web-based application. It will also be exploring general trade as well as online grocery aggregators.

Among the ready-to-cook products are Gujarati dalwada, amchuri aloo paratha, Chettinad curry, dal makhani, dal dabhewali and pasta Arabia sauce where spaghetti can be put and simply boiled, apart from idli and dosa batters. 

"Homemaker has to do sambhar and chutney even if she gets ready to cook idli packets. In case of Fingerlix, chutney and sambhar are sold by us. While the chutney and batter are priced at Rs 60 and Rs 65, the dal makhani is priced at around Rs 150 and can serve a family of four," Nadkarni said.