FreshMenu, the operational entity of online food company, Food Vista India Pvt Ltd., has raised US$16.5 million in its latest funding round led by Zodius Capital and including existing investor, Lightspeed Venture Partners, according to the Economic Times.

 

Earlier in 2015, FreshMenu raised US$5 million in a Series A led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. And with the contribution of this most recent round, FreshMenu is now valued at Rs 300 cr (US$45 million).

 

The past year has been a challenge for the sector, seeing companies including Zomato and TinyOwl reducing their workforces, as others such as Dazo and SpoonJoy decided to exit the business, while the largest player in the industry, Rocket Internet-backed Foodpanda, was faced with dealing with fraudulent bookings by non-existent restaurants, according to Deal Street Asia. The Economic Times reports that data from Tracxn indicates that within the last year, 30 food-tech startups secured seed funding, however, only about six ventures were able to raise subsequent rounds or Series A funding from institutional investors. FreshMenu however, appears to be bucking the trend.

 

Founded in 2014 by Rashmi Daga, Bangalore-based FreshMenu differs from others in the space by owning its own kitchen and employing its own staff of delivery personnel to deliver meals prepared by the company’s own chefs. This level of control over its operations, compared to rivals that deliver on behalf of existing, independent restaurants, lends the business a measure of stability in a mercurial sector.

 

Although FreshMenu would not reveal its volume of orders, an involved investor told the Economic Times that the company was targeting 5,000 orders for the month of December, adding, “They have decent margins and average order value is at the right level to become profitable.”