(L-R) Uena Co-Founders Roy Yohanes and Alvin Arief
UENA, a hyperlocal online F&B startup based in Indonesia, has raised an undisclosed amount in funding co-led by existing investor East Ventures and new investor Trihill Capital.
This new round, closed in Q1 2023, strengthens Uena’s balance sheet following the seed funding raised in September 2022.
The new capital will be used to continue expanding the locations and services to reach more users and customers.
“The majority of our orders come from repeat customers and their orders continue to increase from month to month. Even though we have only been operating for less than one year, the mature stores are already break-even and getting a healthy payback period. The new fund adds our confidence to continue capturing the great opportunity ahead,” said Alvin Arief, Co-Founder and CEO.
Also Read: Bootstrapped: How dating app Sirf Coffee takes on the likes of Tinders without raising VC money
Since launching in August 2022, Uena has opened seven kitchen locations in Jakarta and has served more than 300,000 portions. Customers can order Uena directly through its app or by contacting WhatsApp number. It does not rely on food delivery aggregators too much since more than 80 per cent of its orders come through direct channels.
Each of the kitchens only serves a hyperlocal radius of 1-1.5 km radius and handles delivery internally to minimise delivery cost and delivery time. A typical order will arrive in 15 minutes after a customer placed the order.
Uena sees the problem where the daily food segment in Indonesia is a US$90 billion market annually but almost entirely served by unorganized street-side vendors. This causes customer pain related to high fragmentation, especially in quality, reliability, and price. Uena aims to solve this problem by serving quality food at affordable prices through online delivery. It uses a very light cloud kitchen format and leverages the power of technology and economy of scale to increase quality while decreasing the price at the same time.
Uena is now gearing up for expansion and duplication in Jakarta. Each kitchen requires low capital, fast set-up, and flexibility to use a wide range of available spaces.
It will also continue to add more menus to increase customer repeat orders at multiple meal times each day and multiple days throughout the week.
—
Echelon Asia Summit 2023 brings together APAC’s leading startups, corporates, policymakers, industry leaders, and investors to Singapore this June 14-15. Learn more and get tickets here. Echelon also features the TOP100 stage, where startups can pitch to 5000+ delegates, among other benefits like connecting with investors, visibility through the platform, and other prizes. Join TOP100 here.
The post East Ventures, Trihill Capital invest in hyperlocal online F&B startup Uena appeared first on e27.