City-based food delivery startup Fooza looks beyond Calcutta – Telegraph India

Kolkata News

The company plans to raise around Rs 10 crore next year in a bid to scale up its business in Calcutta and move to Asansol, Durgapur, Howrah, and Burdwan


A Staff Reporter

  |  

Calcutta

  |  
Published 13.12.21, 12:40 AM


City-based food delivery startup – Fooza – is in discussion with angel investors following a change in its strategy and leadership.

The company plans to raise around Rs 10 crore next year in a bid to scale up its business in Calcutta and move to Asansol, Durgapur, Howrah, and Burdwan.

Advertisement

Fooza, which started on December 10, 2020, has onboarded around 450 restaurants and is serving more than 200 orders daily, with around 50 riders delivering food.

“We have raised around Rs 2.5 crore and we are looking for another fundraise of around Rs 10 crore from angel investors,” said Kapil Lohia, co-founder, and CEO, Fooza.

Lohia, who was earlier the chief technology officer, has taken over from Dibyendu Banerjea as the CEO.

The company’s initial plan was to move to other metro cities but Lohia said that there is an opportunity to target underserved marke.

“This space has a couple of huge players and we cannot be exactly like them. For us to succeed we have to find out some unique selling points and somehow differentiate ourselves. Since I have come in, we have reviewed what we have done well and whatnot. We have had some success in Calcutta where we have around 10,000 customers,” Lohia said.

“We are hoping to secure funding by around January-February and then start spreading to the tier 2 locations from March onwards,” he said.

The company estimates with a minimum of 1,000 orders per day and at an average order value of Rs 300, it can achieve break-even in Calcutta in around 16 months whereas tier 2 locations could take around 24 months.

On the service side, Fooza plans to scale up the cash on the delivery model on larger order sizes and allow restaurants to take orders directly from customers via their website, apps, or phone, and the company will deliver food and collect payment.

Source: https://www.telegraphindia.com/business/city-based-food-delivery-startup-fooza-looks-beyond-calcutta/cid/1843045