Foodtech startup SmartQ gobbles Goodbox cafeteria business

Foodcourt-focused food ordering startup SmartQ has acquired Goodbox’s cafeteria business for an undisclosed amount. However, the deal is estimated to be around $800K (all cash).

With the acquisition, SmartQ aims to increase its customer base, while Goodbox wants to focus on its hyperlocal business.

According to Abey Zachariah, CEO, Goodbox, the company is doing well in hyperlocal commerce and cafeteria business looks non-core for the company.

Founded in 2014, Goodbox is a well-funded startup (raised about $3.5 million) backed by investors like Nexus Venture Partners and Manipal Media Networks.

It is a commission-free platform which provides businesses with features such as a customised mobile platform, customer database, product catalogue, and an online payment facility.

Businesses invite their own customers to their Mini App to interact with them directly. These Mini Apps are accessible within the Goodbox Mega App.

Its merchants include restaurants, laundry chains, rental providers, movers and packers, and salons, among several others.

On the other hand, YourNest-backed SmartQ will leverage Goodbox' offerings in cafeteria vertical. SmartQ, a mobile app enables queue-less ordering at food courts in malls and corporate office complexes.

The three-year-old company enables users to order food from a service outlet in a food court within 20 seconds and get an alert when the food is ready to be picked up, thereby eliminating the queues at both the PoS (point of sale) and pickup counters.

The company claims to have been growing 50 per cent month-on-month and clocked over 1 lakh transactions every day, as of March 2018. Currently, it has a presence in over 15 corporate and IT Parks in Bengaluru including IBM, Wipro, and Accenture.

In March, this year SmartQ raised $1 million from a group of Dubai-based investors.

With the acquisition deal, SmartQ will also expand its footprint by creating more digital cafeterias and may become a close competitor to Hungerbox, which also has operations in the vertical.

The development was reported by ET.