TinyOwl shuts shop in all markets except Mumbai

With investment drying, it began firing staff last September

Mumbai-based food technology company TinyOwl announced it was shutting operations in all cities except Mumbai, as part of its restructuring process. The company, reports said, would only be active temporarily in Mumbai.

The app does not let users access restaurants listed in either Delhi-National Capital Region or Bengaluru, its two other big markets.

The company recently announced it had merged with logistics company, RoadRunnr, in an all-stock deal. The two companies have two common investors — Sequoia Capital and Nexus Venture Partners. The new brand Runnr will use RoadRunnr’s logistics capabilities and TinyOwl’s customer data to capture the market, which has Swiggy and Zomato as its market leaders. Reports said the new entity might expand to other markets depending on demand.

TinyOwl had previously been in trouble when it laid off employees in September and then in November 2015. After the bridge round, funded by Sequoia, Nexus and Matrix, the company had been trying to sell the technology but it could not find buyers. Towards the end of the year, it had shut down the call centre in Bengaluru as well.

A BRIEF HISTORY
Mumbai-based food tech start-up has started wrapping up its business with no investment in sight

FOUNDERS: Harshvardhan Mandad, Shikhar Paliwal, Gaurav Choudhary, Tanuj Khandelwal and Saurabh Goyal

FOUNDED IN: August 2014

DOWN THE BARRELl:

• September ’15:  Fired 300 people after over hiring
• November ’15: Fired another 300 across three centres
• January ’16:  Fired 10 heads of departments

FUNDING ROAD

• Rs 6 cr, Aug ’14, Round: Angel funding,
  

Investors: Deap Ubhi, Sandeep Tandon
 

Rs 20 cr, Dec ’14, Round: Series-A
Investors: Sequoia Capital, Nexus Venture Partners
 

Rs 107 cr, Feb ’15, Round: Series-B
Investors: Sequoia Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Matrix  Venture Partners
 

Rs 52 cr, Oct ’15, Round: Bridge,
Investors: Sequoia Capital, Nexus Venture etc.