FRESH FROM THE OVEN

THE RISE OF BAKING STARTUPS

- S SHANTHI

Up until six or seven years ago, baking was a highly unorganized segment. Today, we see many of these businesses taking the startup route, rising funding, and expanding to different locations. For instance, recently, Bakingo raised its first-ever round of growth capital of $16 million from private equity firm Faering Capital. With this investment, the company aims to have a strong pan-India market presence.

It is currently present in cities like Gurugram, Delhi, Noida, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Meerut, Panipat, Karnal and Rohtak. We also have startups such as WarmOven, Paris Bakery, The Bread Company, Le15, BREA, Just Bake, and Paris Bakery in the space and most of them have taken the institutional funding route to expand further.

According to Tracxn, WarmOven has raised a total funding of $1.55M over 2 rounds, The Bread Company has raised a total funding of $2.62M over 4 rounds, and Le15 a total funding of $1.04M. What makes these startups stand out from the crowd of unorganized bakeries is that they leverage advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, ChatGPT, machine learning and specialize in business models such as cloud kitchens and delivery through aggregator platforms.

A HOT SEGMENT

Some years ago, the baking industry operated in a relatively unorganized manner, marked by a lack of structure and many independent players that lacked scalability. However, over the past three to five years, the baking industry has witnessed a remarkable transformation from being an unorganized segment to a thriving ecosystem of startups. "Many brands like ours have reshaped the dynamics of the market, filling previously unexplored and empty spaces and paving the way for innovation and growth," says Himanshu Chawla, founder and CEO, Bakingo.