KENYA – Kune Food, a Kenyan based cloud kitchen concept operator is set to officially launch its on-demand delivery service and avail freshly made meals to consumers in August, following the successful completion of its pre-seed funding round.
According to reports by Disrupt Africa, the food-tech company has closed a pre-seed funding round worth US$1 million to help it scale after a successful pilot, selling more than 500 meals in one month.
Kune will use about 10% of the total investment to finalize on the establishment of its factory and rest in driving operation efficiency in the company.
Once launched, the company will build its own fleet of 100 electric motorcycles by early 2022. In addition, there are plans to hire 100 female drivers, indicates Tech Crunch.
“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.”
Robin Reecht – Founder of Kune Food
The funding round was led by Launch Africa Ventures, with anchor investments from Century Oak Capital GmbH and Consonance.
“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,” said Baljinder Sharma, director of Launch Africa Ventures.
Kune founded in 2020, aims to provide busy, modern Nairobians with access to freshly prepared meals at affordable prices.
The company ran a successful pilot in early 2021 and with its official entry into the market, it will be able to produce up to 5,000 servings a day.
“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 Robin Reecht founder of Kune Food.
Targeting clients from all social groups, Kune’s ready meals promise to be at least half, if not three times, less than the typical price of restaurants and fast food.
Based on a hybrid model combining both cloud and dark kitchen concepts, all Kune meals are made and packaged on site at its factory “hub”, and then delivered on-demand directly to both its online customers, and to its retail and corporate customers.
Currently, Kune showcases three different meals daily: two continental dishes and one foreign meal.
In the coming months, Kune’s offerings will cut across microwavable meals, weight reduction meals and retail meals.
Other than enticing the Kenyan consumers with a variety of meals, Kune is seeking to inculcate a foodies culture in the country with the launch of a food program, curated at its newly built Kitchen Studio.
Cloud kitchen has been trending up in food delivery service in the last one decade, with Research and Markets highlighting that the global cloud kitchen market size was valued at US$43.1billion in 2019, and is estimated to reach US$71.4billion by 2027 with a CAGR of 12.0% from 2021 to 2027.
Major factors driving the growth of the concept are an increase in demand for online food delivery, heightened appetite for international cuisine, and the adoption of tech-savvy ordering systems.
Moreover, hectic work schedule of millennial and Gen Z is set to boost the growth of the market.
Liked this article? Subscribe to Food Business Africa News, our regular email newsletters with the latest news insights from Africa and the World’s food and agro industry. SUBSCRIBE HERE
