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The many struggles of FreshMenu

As the cloud kitchen battle heats up, it appears that one of the frontrunners in the space is losing ground.

Nikhil Varma

Bengaluru

22 February 2021

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A comparison should help set this story up right away. Take Rebel Foods, for instance. Last year, the cloud kitchen company raised $75 million, or around Rs 540 crore, in funding and doubled down on its business with missionary zeal. As if the pain it had endured during the COVID-19 pandemic had given it a fresh lease of life. The months on end of lockdown when people stopped ordering food and dabbled in experimental cooking.

It’s a very different story at FreshMenu though. Till recently, this company was seen by most as a bright prospect in the cloud kitchen business. But it will be fair to say that today it is a pale shadow of its former self. The company reported operating revenue of Rs 105 crore in fiscal 2019-20, a steep drop from Rs 141 crore in 2018-19, and a loss of Rs 11 crore. A few months back it raised Rs 3.5 crore from its existing investors at a valuation of $30 million. This money came in after a long period of trying, even as the company’s valuation has stayed

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