Inner Chef, an Indian adaptation of the US service Blue Apron, has raised $1.7 million from Kyiv (Kiev), Ukraine-based fund TA Ventures and several business angels.
These include Boris Ryabov, managing partner of Russia-based venture fund Bright Capital, as well as Indian entrepreneurs Phanindra Sama, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Anupam Mittal Vishal Gondal and others.
Inner-Chef was launched in April 2015 by Rajesh Sawhney, founder of GSF Accelerator, with cofounders Heena Karia Thakkar, Uday Bansal, Rahul Samat and Bal.
Based in Gurgaon, India, the startup delivers precooked, cut food with all necessary ingredients as well as the recipe packed in a kit with last-mile preparation to be done by a consumer.
“We are in an era of disruption of kitchens. Consumer palates are constantly evolving and people are also time crunched. Both women and cooks don’t have hours to prepare food or cater to demands of the family. Most of our R&D has gone into this. All our dishes can be prepared in 10-20 minutes. The whole idea is to give people food that’s fresh, and anyone can be a chef now,” said Sawhney in an exchange with India Times earlier this year.
Led by Viktoriya Tigipko, a prominent figure on the Ukrainian IT and VC scene, TA Ventures seeks to invest mainly in the USA, Europe and emerging markets. The fund has made eight exits to date, including a deal to leave Indian startup Little Eye Labs. This company, which develops a performance-analysis and monitoring tool, was acquired in January 2014 by Facebook).
