Foodpanda, the online food ordering
and delivery marketplace owned by Ola, is in advanced talks to buy Mumbai based
food tech startup Holachef Hospitality Pvt. Ltd, which shuttered operations nearly
three months ago. Foodpanda will acquire Holachef Staff, brand name and kitchen
equipment.
A potential acquisition would be
the second within a year for Ola, India’s largest taxi aggregator. Last
December, the company, run by ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd, bought Foodpanda
from its German parent. A potential deal signals Ola’s aggressive expansion to
compete in the online food ordering and delivery segment alongside players like
Swiggy (Bundl Technologies Pvt. Ltd), Zomato (Zomato Media Pvt. Ltd) and the
recent entrant UberEats India.
Founded in 2014, Holachef, which
delivers home-cooked food to customers, closed operations in April. The
startup’s Twitter handle is flooded with customer queries about its sudden
absence from delivery platforms. Holachef, which was operational in
Mumbai and Pune, had raised ₹ 2 crore from diamond merchant Ashok Kumar in
February this year. The company backed by Ratan Tata, Kalaari Capital and
venture capital fund India Quotient has raised $9.6 million cumulatively till
date.
Ola
was also exploring creating an independent food technology company on
the lines of Flipkart’s model and was in talks to buy food brand FreshMenu
(Foodvista India Pvt. Ltd) along with another private label. Holachef
joins the likes of Gurugram-based Twigly that three weeks back shut operations
after being in business for three years. Among other food-tech businesses,
Spoonjoy (acquired by grocery delivery firm Grofers), TinyOwl, Yumist and Dazo
had to shut shop as raising funds amid immense competition became increasingly
difficult.
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