SoftBank Leads Investment in Catering Startup Yummy Corp

A cloud-based catering and restaurant solution provider startup, Yummy Corp, announced its Series B funding of US $ 12 million or around IDR 175 billion. This investment is led by SoftBank Ventures Asia South Korea.

Other investors participating were Vectr Ventures Hong Kong, Appworks Ventures Taiwan, Quest Ventures Singapore, Coca Cola Amatil X Australia, and Palm Drive Capital in the United States (US). Intudo Ventures and Sovereign’s Capital, which were involved in funding previously, also took part.

SoftBank Ventures Asia representative Harris Yang said the food delivery market in Indonesia is growing rapidly. Meanwhile, Yummy Corp is considered an expert in the culinary industry and has a unique brand value proposition. “We are confident that Yummy Corp will continue to be the leader in this industry,” Yang said as quoted from a press release, Friday (25/9).

The Company Has Operated 70 Kitchens in 3 Cities

Yummy Corp has a business unit in the cloud kitchen sector, namely Yummykitchen. Gojek and Grab also provide similar services called Dapur Bersama and GrabKitchen. Gojek has 27 shared kitchens in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi (Jabodetabek), Medan and Bandung as of last July.

The number is targeted to reach 100 by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Grab has developed GrabKitchen since 2018. Decacorn from Singapore has 48 cloud kitchens in seven cities. Yummy Corp CEO Mario Suntanu said, Yummykitchen is positioned as a full-fledged operator.

Not only renting out a shared kitchen, but also working on the operations of various brand holders. Yummykitchen has been developing cloud-based restaurant services since the middle of last year. Today, the company operates 70 kitchens in Jakarta, Bandung and Medan.

There are more than 50 culinary brands that have joined Yummykitchen. Some of them are Ismaya Group, Sour Sally Group, Padang Merdeka, Hong Tang and Dailybox. Yummykitchen transactions increased by 320% during the first half.

“With this funding, we continue to focus on taking an active role in helping players in the culinary industry in developing their business through delivery channels,” said Mario.

Cloud Kitchens Are Considered Effective in Pushing Transactions

Moreover, food delivery services are increasingly in demand during the corona pandemic. Cloud kitchen services are also considered to be more effective and efficient in driving transactions, because their location is adjusted to the demands of local consumers.

In addition, a report by Google, Temasek, and Bain entitled e-Conomy SEA 2019 estimates that the transaction value (gross merchandise value / GMV) of the ride-sharing sector in Indonesia reached US$ 6 billion or around IDR 83.8 trillion last year. The value is predicted to increase to US$ 18 billion by 2025.

Meanwhile, in Southeast Asia, transactions were projected to reach US$ 12.7 billion last year. The details, US$ 5.2 billion from food delivery and US$ 7.5 billion from transportation. Google, Temasek and Bain estimate the share of food and transportation delivery to be 50:50 by 2025.

With the large market potential targeted, Yummy Corp also obtained series A funding of US$ 7.75 million or around IDR 110 billion in October last year. Investors involved are Sinarmas Digital Ventures (SMDV), East Ventures, Agaeti Ventures, Prasetia Dwidharma, and Selera Kapital by Sour Sally Group.

For information, Gojek has 27 cloud kitchens called Joint Kitchen in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi (Jabodetabek), Medan and Bandung as of last July. The number is targeted to reach 100 by the end of the year.

Its competitor, Grab, has developed GrabKitchen since 2018. Decacorn from Singapore has 48 cloud kitchens in seven cities. The two startups with a jumbo valuation provide space, basic equipment for cooking to data analysis.

They rely on insights from managed data to determine locations that are in high demand. This method allows both of them to find a place with low rental costs, but high potential buyers. However, the two decacorns do not run the sales partner’s operations.