Ratan Tata Invests In FoodTech StartUp IdeaChakki

Delhi-based food tech venture, IdeaChakki, has just raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Ratan Tata. The company has also partnered with Enablers for their next round of funding, reported the Business Standard.

Founded by three former NDTV executives Monica Narula, Noopur Tiwari and Gunjan Mehrish, the startup provides digital video menus for restaurants that allows customers to gift food and beverage experiences anywhere in the world. The company currently targets premium restaurants in Delhi NCR, but the startup aims to expand through the country and setting up its first international office in Paris.

The interactive app loads on to the restaurant screens, allows guests to make choices based on their dietary preferences. The app also has short videos explaining how the dishes are made along with notes about pronunciation to the origin of the dish. This allow customers to understand what they’re eating and navigate through the menu at an interactive level.

These funds will be primarily used for expansion into new areas as well as building the in-house team and strengthening the technology. Talking to BS, Gunjan Mehrish said, “It feels great to have received a funding from Ratan Tata. We are world’s first video-based food-tech to introduce such a concept, which will change the face of hospitality world and lifestyle of users. Additionally, Ratan Tata’s validation of the idea will help in attracting more investors as his experience in managing and running Taj group of hotels cannot be overlooked. Moreover, we are looking forward for our next round of funding through Enablers.”

Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons, has been actively investing in startups in India and abroad, including companies like Snapdeal, Urban Ladder, Ola, DogSpot.in, Teabox and more.

Director of Enablers, Neha Khanna spoke about the association with IdeaChakki and said, “We are glad to associate with an innovative and promising start-up like IdeaChakki. We perform a deep analysis before bringing any start-up onboard by a defined criterion, which helps us to provide quality opportunities to our investors. A concept like IdeaChakki is very futuristic and the ideology and vision of the company perfectly blends with Enablers.”