Exclusive: Box8 and FreshMenu raise fresh capital

Full-stack foodtech platform Box8 has raised Rs 20 crore in a fresh tranche of Series C round. The fresh infusion in the company has come after 10 months. Last April, it raised Rs 30 crore from IIFL Seed Ventures Fund and Mayfield Fund in a mixed round of equity and debt.

Box8 has allotted 8,475 Series C3 CCPS at an issue price of Rs 23,599.46 per share to raise the above-mentioned sum, regulatory filings show. While KVS Software and Neerav Parekh have invested Rs 5 crore each, Fortune Investment, Craft House India and Vijay Kumar Mishra have put in Rs 2 crore each. KVS Software is the holding entity for another data analytics firm Ugam Solutions.

Amgele Family Trust has also participated in the latest tranche with an investment of Rs 4 crore. Box8 is the first full-stack foodtech platform to raise capital in 2021. The Mumbai-based firm’s business was hit due to the Covid-19 pandemic between April and November 2020.

Since Box8’s core business had faced disruption, the company added grocery, bakery and fresh meat verticals in April last year. Box8 was one of the three dozen companies that entered the grocery and essentials delivery segment last year.

Apart from Box8, FreshMenu is set to add Rs 3.5 crore to its Series B1 round from Lightspeed India, Zodius Technology fund and Vistra India. The company would allot fresh shares to these investors, regulatory filings show.

This is the maiden infusion in the Bengaluru-based firm this year. Last year, it had raised Rs 17.33 crore from Lightspeed, Bunting Family, Ganesh Krishnan, Srinivas Anumolu, Zodius across two tranches.

While Box8 has been the second full stack foodtech platform to thrive after Rebel Foods, FreshMenu hasn’t been able to grow at a quick pace. SoftBank-backed Oyo was in talks to acquire the Rashmi Daga-led firm. However, the deal didn’t materialise for some unknown reasons. It’s worth noting that Oyo had downscaled its cloud kitchen business significantly in the wake of Covid-19 crisis.