EazyDiner, a platform that helps consumers discover restaurants and bars and reserve tables across various cities in India, has raised Rs 40 crore ($4.9 million) from The Sparkle Fund, an Alternative Investment Fund of DMI Finance, as it looks to expand its operations in the country and abroad.
While the deal size itself is small, it reflects how the ‘dining out culture’ in India is making a comeback after coming to a screeching halt in 2020 and 2021 amid COVID-19.
EazyDiner is currently present in over 30 cities in India. It plans to use the corpus to foray into more destinations as it targets to reach 100 cities by the end of this year.
Founded in 2018 by Kapil Chopra, who was formerly president of Oberoi Hotels, EazyDiner can currently be accessed and used at over 12,000 restaurants in India and Dubai.
The startup claims to have partnered with 15 banks in India including prominent names such as Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank, which helps customers save 40-50% instantly on every meal.
“EazyDiner is already profitable. With over 3 million users, it has grown 5X in terms of diners,” Chopra told DealStreetAsia. “The eating out culture in India has been growing exponentially, with people preferring to head to restaurants for a meal, more so post the recent pandemic,” he added.
Apart from EazyDiner, Chopra also runs The Postcard Hotel, which operates luxury hotels hidden in holiday destinations across India and the world, and is backed by a real estate investment trust based in Mauritius, and foreign fund Small Ventures.
EazyDiner claims to have registered an over 18X growth in restaurant bill payments on its app in 2022.
It also counts DSG Consumer Partners, Saama Capital, Beenext, and Denlow Investment Trust among its existing backers.
In terms of hotel chains, it has tie-ups with ITC Group, JW Marriott, St. Regis, Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons, Hilton Hotels, Radisson Hotels, Trident Hotels, and InterContinental Hotels, among others. Among standalone restaurants, it works closely with Indian Accent, Olive, Mamagoto, Masala Library, Whisky Samba, Lord of the Drinks, and Barbeque Nation, among others.
“The Sparkle Fund is always on the lookout for companies that have the vision to innovate in the financial services ecosystem and with EazyDiner, the future of eating out looks promising” Shivashish Chatterjee, co-Founder of DMI Finance, said in a media statement.
The Sparkle Fund is also a backer of Indian startups such as payments firm MobiKwik, and digital wealth management platform Scripbox.