Innerchef revenue and losses jump 2X in FY19; secures $1 Mn from Mistletoe

Cloud kitchen platform Innerchef has secured Rs 7.20 crore in a debt funding round from its existing investor- Japanese venture capital firm Mistletoe.

According to regulatory filings, the Gurugram-based company has approved to allot 7,20,000 Compulsorily Convertible Debentures (CCDs) having a face value of Rs 100 on private placement basis to Mistletoe. The debentures being convertible in nature are offered at a coupon rate of 0.01% per annum.

The fresh capital for the company has come after a gap of a year. Previously, it had raked in $6.5 million in pre-Series B round led by Mistletoe, Das Capital, Saha Capital, M&S Partners, and Brand Capital in January 2019.

Launched in 2015 by Rajesh Sawhney, Sanjeev Singhal, and Bal Dighent, InnerChef has built a portfolio of brands like Healthie, Bombay Sandwich Company, Thalis of India, YumYumDilli and YumYumSouth.

Currently, the company is operational in Delhi-NCR, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Mumbai. It has been planning to expand its footprint in 10 additional cities including Pune, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chennai, and Jaipur since last year.

However, it's yet to venture into any of the cities mentioned above.

As far as the Innerchef's financial performance for the year ending 2019 was concerned, the company's operating revenue increased by almost two times to Rs 30.66 crore from Rs 15.36 crore in FY18. The net losses of the firm have also increased by 89.82%, going up from Rs 12.88 crore to Rs 24.45 crore in the last fiscal.

Other incomes such as sponsorship income and interest on fixed deposits amounted to Rs 75.78 lakh at the end of the FY19.

The expenses for the full-stack foodtech firm went up by 78.04%, from being Rs 37.07 crore in FY18 to Rs 66 crore in FY19. While it spent Rs 24.57 crore on its employees benefit, around Rs 2.46 crore were burnt on advertisement activities, and Rs 9.58 crore on workforce services.

Out of the total employees' benefit, a significant amount (72%) of Rs 17.66 crore was spent on ESOPs.

As the Innerchef's revenue has shown significant growth and the gap between income and loss has also improved, it would be interesting to track how the company continues to reduce costs and diversify its product portfolio to add value to its customer base.

In the cloud kitchen model, Innerchef finds competition from Freshmenu, Faasos and Swiggy.