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Food-Tech Startup SmartQ Acquires Goodbox's Digital Cafeteria Business in an All-Cash Deal

Acquisition will ramp up SmartQ’s expansion plans across the country

Photo Credit : ShutterStock,

In an effort to scale up its expansion plans, SmartQ, a Bengaluru-based online food tech platform, has acquired the Digital Cafeteria business of Goodbox which provides mini apps to businesses. The acquisition is a part of the company’s long term strategy to aggressively increase its footprint across India. Post the acquisition, Goodbox will continue its current focus on the hyper-local delivery business for groceries, pharmacies, etc.

The deal size is expected to be $800K (Rs 5.5 Cr).

Speaking about the acquisition, Krishna Wage, Co-founder and CEO, SmartQ, said, “This is another important landmark for SmartQ as it reinstates our position as a leader Digital Cafeteria Business. Goodbox already has an existing customer base of 10+ MNCs across the country. Post the acquisition, SmartQ will further strengthen its digital cafeteria business by adding Goodbox’s customer base to the portfolio.”

He further said, “Next few years are very important for us as an organization. To take the organization to the next level of strategic growth, we are further scaling up our product portfolio, service offerings and business strategy”.

SmartQ has clocked more than 1 crore transactions in last one year. Experiencing a 50 percent month-on-month growth with over 1,20,000+ daily transactions, SmartQ has grown to 100+ locations in India and globally.

Founded by Krishna Wage and Abhishek Ashok in 2014, the company provides an integrated digital Cafeteria experience across different sectors including corporates, malls, multiplexes, stadiums, hospitals and colleges. SmartQ has expanded its operations to international markets such as Singapore and New Zealand.  

SmartQ has raised close to Rs 9-10 crores funds in total. In 2016, the startup raised Rs 3.1 crores funding from YourNest Angel Fund. In 2018, the company again raised close to a Rs 4.75 crores from an investor group led by some Dubai-based investors, while existing investor YourNest also participated in the round.

Addressing various challenges faced by employees and caterers, SmartQ enhances cafeteria and food-court experience by eliminating queues, minimizing wait time, increasing collaborative work time. By enabling corporate employees to place their orders through multiple means, SmartQ implements its innovative and cutting-edge product digital cafeteria Solutions. 

SmartQ is the exclusive technology partner with some of the largest food service providers in the world. SmartQ plans to expand their horizons to multiple other sectors where there are queue issues and ultimately remove queue from the face of the earth.

Goodbox is a Bengaluru-based startup that provides consumers a Mega App to buy from 1000s of businesses directly on their app and website. Goodbox is currently working closely with large supermarkets in Bangalore and is funded by Nexus Ventures and other angel investors. The company was founded in 2015 by former redBus executives Abey Zachariah and Mayank Bidawatka, and IIM-Bangalore alumni Nithin Chandra, Mohit Maheshwari, Anand Kalaginamani and technologists Mahesh Herle and Charan Shetty. 

HungerBox which is similar to SmartQ, has also recently raised $2.5 million in Series A funding round. The startup is currently serving more than 110 digital cafeterias.



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