Kune, a Kenyan food-tech startup has raised a $1 million pre-seed funding round to develop its on-demand food delivery service.
The round was led by venture capital firm, Launch Africa Ventures, followed by Century Oak Capital GmbH and Consonance.
In a bid to reduce the difficulty of obtaining quality yet affordable on-demand food in Kenya, Robin Reecht founded Kune in 2020 as a go-to platform to access freshly-prepared meals.
With a client base made up of people across different social groups, the startup provides busy Nairobians with ready-to-eat and affordable meals which it claims are about half, if not three times, below the typical prices at restaurants and fast food.
“After three intensive months spent structuring the company, finding land for our factory, and hiring key team members, I started fundraising. I’m delighted that Kune has attracted this level of interest from investors who immediately saw the potential to grow Kune not only in Kenya but across Sub-Saharan Africa,” said Reecht.
Kune operates a hybrid model by fusing both cloud and dark kitchen concepts. This means that all its meals are prepared and packaged on-site in a factory and then delivered on-demand directly to its online, retail and corporate customers.
Commenting on Kune’s impressive hybrid model, the Director of Launch Africa, Baljinder Sharma, said,
“Launch Africa is excited to be leading the first round of financing for this exciting new startup in the Kenyan food sector. Leveraging the cloud kitchen model and owning the entire supply chain provides a massive growth and scaling opportunity for Kune Africa, and we are looking forward to seeing the business take off and grow.”
Kune completed a successful pilot in early 2021. With the new funds, it will be able to fully launch its freshly made meals and on-demand delivery service in August, with the goal of providing up to 5,000 servings per day to its customers.
The startup is also planning to build its own fleet of 100 electric motorcycles as well as employ 100 female drivers.
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