JustMyRoots, which operates an inter-city food delivery service, is also in talks with venture capital and private equity funds to raise Rs 120-150 crore for its business expansion. The funds will be utilised for manufacturing units for in-house packaging solutions it has developed and also to start food delivery services within the city like Swiggy and Zomato, said CEO Samiran Sengupta.
Ganguly told ET he decided to invest in JustMyRoots since this is the future, with more and more people preferring to order food and eat at home. “I myself prefer to order food and eat at home. Most people nowadays have long working hours and going to a restaurant is not always possible. So, I decided to pick up a strategic stake as a personal investment,” he said.
The former India captain Ganguly said he has been investing in startups and currently has such strategic stake in four companies. “I recently encashed one of the investments and it has been profitable for me,” he said.
With Ganguly’s investment, JustMyRoots has raised Rs 31 crore from high net worth individuals and family businesses across the world, including chief executives of some of the large tech companies. The company reported revenue of Rs 208 for 2022-23 and wants to increase it to Rs 350 crore this fiscal, said Sengupta.
“We are still burning money but expect the business to turn EBITDA positive by this fiscal end. We are a large player in intercity food delivery operating in 30 cities, but we want to now enter same-city delivery by delivering food even 40-50 km away and ensuring it remains hot with our proprietary technology. This will start in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru by Diwali,” said Sengupta.
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JustMyRoots has developed a hot chain solution to keep food hot for four-five hours and a cold chain where perishable food can be stored for up to 72 hours. These solutions are developed by its subsidiary, Acaya, and the company has applied for a patent to the India office for these. It will set up manufacturing plants to produce and sell these solutions to other sectors as well.