Baby Food Catering Startup Grouu Receives Initial Funding Of 6 Billion Rupiah

Baby food catering startup Grouu has announced the acquisition of a $400 seed funding (approximately IDR 6 billion) from Selera Kapital, the investment arm of the Sour Sally Group. Also take part in some angel investors, including Wesley Harjono (Managing Director of Plug and Play Indonesia) and Rama Notowidigdo (Co-founder of Sayurbox and AwanTunai).

The company will use the fresh funds to expand the scope of catering services by opening satellite kitchen in a number of major cities in Indonesia, as well as diversifying packaged food products.

Grou position itself as a provider of complementary feeding (MPASI) for infants aged six months and over with the selection of quality raw materials, taste, and complete nutritional content in each dish. In the midst of busy activities in taking care of early childhood, the presence of a practical, healthy and nutritious food menu is one of the things that parents really need today.

Meanwhile, the problem of nutrition and child health is still the Indonesian government's homework. Data from the Indonesian Ministry of Health in 2020 states that the prevalence of stunting (short) in Indonesian toddlers is 27,7%, or 28 out of 100 toddlers are stunted. In fact, the first 1.000 days of a baby's life is a golden age for child growth and development. Unfortunately, many children who should be the hope of the nation's future are still experiencing nutritional problems at an early age.

Co-founder & CEO of Grouu, Jessica Martin explained, "We understand that one of the difficulties parents face during their child's growth is providing varied food choices to support optimal growth and development.

“Grouu is here to be a delicious and healthy complementary food solution to help the needs of urban parents in the midst of their busy lives. Through this funding, we will expand and innovate to reach more parents in Indonesia," Jessica said in an official statement, Tuesday (25/1).

The founder of Selera Kapital, Donny Pramono, expressed his belief in Grouu's vision and mission in providing quality food for children in Indonesia. Not only that, he sees Grou's commitment in providing the best service for parents by presenting meal subscription management platform which makes it easier for parents to schedule food delivery real-time.

"Selera Kapital is ready to support Grouu through synergies with our various portfolios and business units in the food and beverage category," said Donny. Grouu adds to the range of investment portfolios in Selera Kapital, previously available ESB (Essence of Global Solutions), Wahyoo, Yummy Corp, and EVOS Esports.

Grouu has served more than 200.000 servings of complementary foods by 2021. All Grouu products are made using quality fresh ingredients without added preservatives, colorings, flavor enhancers, including salt and sugar. Grouu has also obtained a Health Eligibility Certificate from the DKI Jakarta Health Office so that it is guaranteed to be clean as the right MPASI choice for children.

Each menu is jointly prepared by a team of nutritionists, food scientists, and cooks to meet the daily nutritional needs of infants. Grouu also provides various choices of food textures that can be adapted to the needs of babies at their developmental age.

Parents can enjoy free daily delivery through a flexible subscription plan supported by meal subscription management platform which makes it easy to select menus, as well as textures easily and real-time to the ease of making various changes starting from the delivery date and address.