BerryKitchen Receives Series A Funding of IDR 16 Billion from Sovereign's Capital

Online catering company BerryKitchen secured a Series A investment of $1,25 million (over 16 billion Rupiah) from Sovereign's Capital. Previous investor, East Ventures, is also participating in this funding round. The funding will be used to accelerate BerryKitchen's growth, as well as continue to expand the company's geographic coverage. The target is to grow the business fivefold by 2016.

Founded by Cynthia Tenggara, BerryKitchen received initial funding of 500 million Rupiah from Angel Investor Network Indonesia (ANGIN) about 16 months ago. Since then, the company has continued to increase its growth, until about six months ago the company served around 800-900 lunch packages a day.

“In one year, we target to serve 5 people per day. We will open several additional kitchens, so that our geographical coverage will be wider than what we have today,” said Cynthia Tenggara, Co-Founder and CEO of BerryKitchen.

To achieve this target, BerryKitchen plans to implement a number of key certifications to help improve the company's sales performance.

Cynthia also mentioned the company's need to develop a team. "To achieve all targets, we need to develop our team, both in terms of quantity and quality, so we are looking for the right people to fill the right positions, especially to strengthen the operational and technology team," he said.

Regarding why Sovereign's Capital invested in BerryKitchen, Luke Roush, Co-Founder and Managing Principal of Sovereign's Capital, commented, “We are very pleased to be working with BerryKitchen. Our funding targets investing in great teams targeting large and growing markets. BerryKitchen is a new and fresh concept, and their technology platform for being able to continue to grow along with their approach to integration at any level is exciting. We believe that this concept is something that the people of Jakarta need – high quality food, at affordable prices, delivered to the future pintu your home."

Willson Cuaca from East Ventures, an early investor in BerryKitchen, added, “We welcome Sovereign's Capital and the BerryKitchen team to help Cynthia and Ivan reach their next milestone. The food business is very important in the urban lifestyle, coupled with technology that can provide new experiences in ordering, delivery and consumption of the people. But most importantly, BerryKitchen's cooking is delicious.”

Menu ready to cook

BerryKitchen recently introduced its newest product, a ready-to-cook menu. With this menu, customers who want to cook but don't want to bother buying ingredients and are unsure of the spices needed can order a menu, wait for the menu to be delivered, and cook it according to the recipe instructions provided. The BerryKitchen staff will do the rest, shopping for ingredients and preparing the spices according to the required amount. They will also change the menu every Friday.

As a food catering company, BerryKitchen is not just a food delivery service. However, the food delivery service segment has grown into a very lucrative market. Last year, its value on a global scale even reached more than $1 billion.

With all the traffic jams and congestion in the capital, of course, it is not difficult to predict that this business will continue to grow. “In Jakarta, because we realize that going out for lunch can be very expensive, but not everyone can bring food from home. So we decided to help solve the problem - by providing delicious and healthy food at an affordable price,” said Cynthia.