BY TOM JACKSON
Kenyan food-tech startup Kune, which delivers freshly-made, ready-to-eat meals at affordable prices, has closed a pre-seed funding round worth US$1 million to help it scale after a successful pilot.
Founded by French entrepreneur Robin Reecht in 2020, Kune is a food delivery service that aims to provide busy, modern Nairobians with access to freshly prepared meals at affordable prices.
Aimed at 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. The startup ran a successful pilot in early 2021, and it will now be launching its freshly made meals and on-demand delivery service in August, with the capacity to produce up to 5,000 servings a day to Nairobi’s working class and middle-income customers.
“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 Reecht.
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.
The pre-seed 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.
