Dahmakan, a chef-made food delivery startup, raised US$18 M in its latest Series B Round of financing

FREMONT, CA: Dahmakan, a kitchen-to-customer food delivery startup, raised US$18 million in its Series B round of financing. The Series B fundraiser saw participation from new investors Rakuten Capital, White Star Capital, Japan Associated Finance Corp. Asia, and the GEC-KIP Technology and Innovation Fund.

A few other investors in the same round included Korean food delivery unicorn Woowa Brothers and the Former CEO of Nestle Germany, along with follow-on investment from existing backers of the company, who were Partech Partners and Y Combinator. 

The food delivery app Dahmakan, meaning “Have you eaten?” in Malay, was created in 2015 by the former Foodpanda executives Jonathan Weins, Jessica Li, and Christian Edelmann. In 2017, it was the first Malaysian startup to be a part of Y Combinator and was also accepted into its accelerator program. 

The CEO of Dahmakan, Weins, quotes in an interview that their mission initially was to build a chef-made delivery product that the mass market could use every day. “We knew from our experience launching Foodpanda in Hong Kong that removing high delivery and operating costs while bringing food closer to the consumer would be a core part of this mission,” he elucidates. 

Instead of creating a marketplace, the founders of the startup focused on establishing control over the entire value chain from product development to the last-mile delivery, with the assistance of its network of satellite kitchens.

“We combine a small operational footprint across multiple locations to ensure lightning-fast delivery with high levels of automation in back-of-house operations, made possible through our investments in software and industrial design,” said Edelmann, the startup’s chief technology officer.

Dahmakan has plans to utilize its latest funds to extend further the operating system that fuels the whole end-to-end business. According to a statement, the soft launch of the startup had over 40 new dishes every month, after testing more than 2,000 recipes. It leveraged feedback, market insights, and other data sources to design a menu that features dishes that were best sellers and exclusive to Dahmakan, via its creations every week. 

The previous round of funding took place in May 2019, where Dahmakan raised over US$5 million in the Series A round of financing. The aforementioned round was conducted before the launch of the startup’s distribution satellite kitchens in Malaysia. The proceeds collected from its Series A round of financing were utilized to expand and grow its existing and new markets, respectively. 

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