Matrix Partners India invests in LimeTray

Mumbai, India '“ October 1, 2014: Matrix Partners India today announced that it has invested in the first institutional round of funding for Alchemy Web Private Limited, which provides restaurants with a platform to run day-to-day operations including ordering, online presence management, and CRM, under the brand name LimeTray. The company has already signed up over 200 restaurants, mainly in the Delhi NCR area.

Other investors in the company include Umang Kumar (CEO Gaadi.com), Ankur Warikoo (Head-APAC, Groupon), Ankur Singla (CEO, Akosha), Anurakt Jain, and Kunal Khattar.

Akhilesh Bali, the founder CEO, previously led FoodPanda India. He also ran a start-up called MithaiMate (sweets delivery), and is an alum of ISB.

His co-founder is Piyush Jain, who was earlier Head of Online Marketing at FoodPanda.

"Our vision is to build a full-stack technology platform for restaurants across India. We are restaurant-first in our approach, and want to enable more and more restaurants to come online and solve critical business needs using our platform. We decided to partner with Matrix Partners India as we believe they will give us the necessary edge to win in this market.' said Akhilesh Bali, Founder and CEO, LimeTray.

"Restaurants are adopting a range of mobile-first technology at a rapid pace to solve their business needs be it discovery, dining experience, ordering, loyalty or restaurant management. The Food-tech market is deep enough to have multiple winners. We share Akhilesh and Piyush's vision for an Indian restaurateur's needs and are excited about partnering with them on this journey to create a large company. We believe other SMEs are also ready to adopt technology. Matrix Partners India will make multiple investments along this theme.' said Vikram Vaidyanathan, Managing Director, Matrix India.

"Akhilesh and Piyush had a very interesting restaurant-first approach to building a business in India '“ it is a space that has seen large value creation in most markets abroad. I decided to invest in them based on their drive and the unique insights they had about food ordering space.' said Umang Kumar, CEO, Gaadi.com. "Akhilesh has an unbridled passion and entrepreneurial instinct. That, coupled with the fact that he was solving a pressing problem for restaurants, convinced me to back him on this journey.' added Ankur Warikoo, Head-APAC, Groupon.

About Alchemy Web Pvt. Ltd.:
Alchemy Web is a provider of back-end technology to restaurants to enable them to carry out critical processes like managing their online presence, doing deliveries, and managing their POS and CRM systems. The founders have extensive experience in the technology space as well as restaurant space, including in organisations like FoodPanda.

About Matrix Partners India:
Matrix Partners India is an investment firm with INR 3,000 crore under management. The firm invests in companies targeting the Indian consumer market at the seed, early and early growth stages. The firm has invested in several market leading companies including Biscoot (digital entertainment), MSwipe (mobile POS), Newshunt (mobile local language platform), Ola (cab marketplace), Quikr (online classifieds), Stayzilla (stays marketplace), Traffline (local social information) and Woo (social dating), among others. Matrix Partners has a global network of funds investing in the US, China and India with US $3 billion under management. Further information is available at www.matrixpartners.in