Indian's Box8 raises $3.5m Series A from Mayfield
US early stage investor Mayfield has led a INR210 million ($3.3 million) Series A round of funding for Poncho Hospitality, the start-up behind Indian quick service restaurant (QSR) chain and on-demand food delivery services firm Box8.
The company was launched in 2011 by ITT graduates Amit Raj and Anshul Gupta as Mexican QSR chain Poncho. The company received early backing from Indian Angel Network in 2012 and renamed itself Box8 the same year.
The rebranded start-up now offers a range of traditional Indian meals served in distinctive takeaway boxes. Box8 generates business via its online platform and accompanying app designed to make it easy for users to order, pay, and track the order's progress via their smartphones.
It currently only operates in Mumbai, where it operates a centralized kitchen, a call center, and 22 delivery outlets across the city. The business claims to process over 2,000 transactions per day. This latest round of funding will be used by the company to build on its technology across both its mobile and web platforms, expand its team, and grow its footprint.
There is an emerging trend in India for tech-enabled QSR chains offering end-to-end services via a proprietary app-supported platform for ordering and order-tracking. In February, Lightbox Ventures led a $20 million Series B round of funding for Faaso's Food Service, a tech-enabled quick-service restaurant (QSR) chain that pulls in 65% of its business via its online platform. The same month Gurgaon-based Yumist raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Orios Venture Partners.
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