Singapore-based online food startup, Grain, announced on 10 May that it has raised USD 10 million in a Series B fundraising round, in the form of a mix of equity and venture debt. The round was led by Thailand’s Singha Ventures. Singha Ventures is the corporate venture capital unit of Singha Corporation, part of Boonrawd Brewery Group, which produces Singha beer.
Grain uses unwanted real estate as kitchens and uses its own chefs and delivery team to produce and deliver thousands of meals every day in Singapore, which is currently its sole market. During 2018 it achieved growth of 200% and it also became profitable. After this round, Grain will expand its operations to Thailand, working with Singha to leverage its extensive F&B network across the country, including logistics and distribution.
New investors participating in the round are Genesis Alternative Ventures, SassCorp, K2 Global, FoodXervices and Majuven. Existing investors Openspace Ventures, Raging Bull (the private investment fund owned by Thai Express founder Ivan Lee) and Cento Ventures participated. K2 Global is run by investor, Ozi Amanat, and its portfolio includes Airbnb, Impossible Foods, Spotify, Uber and Palantir. SassCorp is the operation and investment holding platform of the Sassoon family, who are shareholders of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. FoodXervices Inc is a leading distributor of over 4,000 products catering to a wide variety of F&B and hospitality establishments in Singapore.
Grain raised a total of SGD 4.2 million (USD 3 million) in a Series A funding round led by Openspace Ventures in 2016. It raised another SGD 1.7 million (USD 1.25 million) in a venture round co-led by First Gourmet, FoodXervices, and Majuven last year.
(Sources: Tech Crunch; Deal Street Asia; Business Times)
