Village Global invests unknown sum in Kitchens Centre's Pre-Series A round

The start-up offers fully-fitted shared kitchens to online food and FMCG brands making it easier for them to launch operations, penetrate market faster

Shared kitchen start-up Kitchens Centre has raised an undisclosed sum in a Pre-Series A round from US-based Village Global, an early-stage venture capital firm backed by marquee entrepreneurs, including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google’s Eric Schmidt, and Disney’s Bob Iger.

Kitchens Centre had raised a seed round of $500,000 in April this year from AngelList India. 

Founded in 2019 by Lakshay Jain, it provides infrastructure and technology solutions for online food & FMCG brands. With the approach of building ready to move-in-kitchens, it offers fully-fitted kitchens to partners making it easier for brands to launch operations and penetrate the market faster. 

“With the  obvious benefit being the reduction of cost, we aim to create an incubated ecosystem with integrated tech solutions, supply chain, logistics support and platform aggregation. Moreover with the pandemic still very much prevalent, the food delivery business is prospering and gaining momentum in the food services industry,” said Jain. 

As food delivery is expected to outpace restaurant sales in the next 9-12 months, the start-up is looking to partner with restaurants and food-tech start-ups to accelerate their growth story. It currently operates in over 35 locations across 15 cities pan India and has a network of 200 plus kitchen units currently with over 50 F&B brands such as Choko La, Mamagoto, Biryani Blues, Sleepy Owl, Fat Lulu’s, and Nirula’s. The company is planning to expand further by adding more than 90 new locations and 550 units over the next one year. Currently, the startup is managing 100,000 square feet space.

“Kitchens Centre data-driven approach to property acquisition and sales management ensures maximisation of occupancy and unit economics. It is enabling restaurants, food entrepreneurs as well as FMCG brands to take advantage of the boom in delivery/ logistics and achieve higher ROI - minimal capital outlay and faster go-to-market. We see significant investment opportunities in this ecosystem,” said Eric Torenberg, Co-Founder, Village Global.