Go-Jek’s Investment in Rebel Food: Opportunities & Scope for Cloud Kitchen Food Delivery Business

The connections between India and Indonesia are surprisingly awesome! The island Sumatra is named after the Sanskrit word Samudra. The state-run airline of Indonesia is called Garuda, which is an important figure in Hindu mythology.

Even today, this connection continues with Go-Jek, one of the most popular startups and the first Unicorn of Indonesia that invested in the Indian cloud kitchen startup called Rebel Foods.

This investment is of strategic importance both to the investor and investee. Before we go on to talk about the details, let us digress a bit to describe the awesomeness of Go-Jek.

Go-Jek – getting Indonesia the Global recognition

Go-Jek was founded in 2010 and in a span of 9 years, it has managed to grow into multiple geographies like Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia. Its valuation today stands at a staggering $10 billion. It has received its funding from leviathan-and-formidable investment-companies like Google and Tencent.

It has grown so big that it has created its own investment armor called GoVentures. This company has invested $5 million in an open-ended Series D round of the Indian cloud kitchen company Rebel Foods.

About Rebel Foods

Rebel Foods receives more than 30000 orders daily! People might not know the name of the company but the brands that the company owns are quite popular all across India. The brands include Faasos, Oven Story, Lunch Box, The Good Bowl, and Behrouz.

Rebel Foods was earlier known by its flagship brand Faasos Food Services Pvt. Ltd. It was founded in 2010, and in 2018, after its acquisitions, it has been rebranded as a parent entity. The company sells its food products through delivery businesses like Swiggy and Zomato. In addition to this, they have their own independent application.

It started as a quick-service restaurant (QSR) but it soon expanded into a multi-brand cloud kitchen. There are a lot of brands associated with Rebel Foods. In addition to those mentioned earlier, they also have brands like Firangi Bake, Mandarin Oak, and Kettle and Eggs. the company is active in more than 15 cities in India and has opened more than 1100 internet restaurants. Per the company filings, and as of September 2018, Rebel Foods was estimated and $198.7 million.

Investments in Rebel

Go-Jek is not the first company to invest in Rebel. The company has generated more than $20 million in an ongoing series. the existing investors include Lightbox, Sequoia, and Evolvence. As seen earlier, Rebel has accepted a $5 million infusion from GoVentures. GoVentures has acquired 667 series D2 CCPS in addition to 100 equity shares in Rebel Foods. Rebel has a huge investor interest for raising about $170 to $180 million. However, they have settled for the small investment in order not to excessively dilute the stakes.

The Expansion

After the success of this round of funding, Rebel is expected to expand its network of kitchens by 250% – it will grow from 200 to 500 kitchens. Outside India, Rebel is also expected to expand in Dubai and Indonesia. In the long run, they also plan to get into the other Southeast Asian markets as well. It is quite probable that Rebel might invest in automation and Robotics with the aim of making their kitchens more efficient.

It is also reported by the media that Rebel Foods has partnered with Go-Jek to establish cloud kitchens in Indonesia. Although there have been no official confirmations, it is expected that Coatue Management will lead the Series D funding of Rebel Foods with an investment of $120 million.

Why Cloud Kitchen?

Wikipedia defines a cloud kitchen or a ghost restaurant as a food service business that serves customers exclusively through phone orders for online food ordering.

Rebel Foods has a lot of competition in India, in the cloud kitchen sector alone! The competitors include Biryani by Kilo, Box8, and FreshMenu. This does not include food tech companies and delivery providers like Swiggy, Zomato, Uber Eats, and Dunzo which might have partnered with a few cloud kitchens!

What makes cloud kitchens an interesting and profitable venture? It is quite evident from the success of food delivery services that there are a lot of people who prefer restaurant food in the comfort of their homes. This would mean that there is a lot of scope for food businesses that can put their focus on food alone! They do not have to invest their valuable space in arranging seating and designing exquisite interiors. This saves a lot of money that would have otherwise been spent in real estate.

Simply put, a cloud kitchen can effectively replace a restaurant when it comes to food delivery.

Any cloud kitchen will have its facilities on par with any restaurant kitchen. In fact, they are bound to be more efficient because they do not have to care about aspects like plating.

A service that needs to run parallel to any cloud kitchen is a mode of transportation. With an exclusive transportation solution or by partnering with a food delivery provider, a cloud kitchen can reap immense profits. The growth of cloud kitchens has also opened up business prospects for an UberEats clone or any other food delivery clone app for that matter.

Conclusion

The above paragraphs make us arrive at two conclusions – one on the surface and the other a bit beyond. First, there is a lot of prospects for food delivery applications and cloud kitchens. Creating a food delivery app by purchasing clones of Uber eats can be a great business opportunity.

In addition to this, the sheer magnitude of success exhibited by Go-Jek also shows the business you can build with ride-hailing applications. It might also be parallelly a good idea to create a business by investing in a GoJek clone.

AppDupe, with its team of expert app developers, will ensure that your business requirement is fulfilled in terms of an app. We not only create clones but also customize it according to your requirements. With the burden of development taken away from you, you can focus on hitting the market really fast!

Author

Marketing is my soul mate and writing is my side kick. Using my writing skills to share the knowledge of app development and upcoming technologies.