DELHI, MUMBAI and BENGALURU, October 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

- Global investors shift focus from delivery-led models to the table reservation-based platforms mirroring a trend seen globally

- Series B funding by existing backers DSG Consumer Partners & Saama Capital with new investor BeeNext of Japan and an International family office participating in this round

- 3.5x on a pre-valuation from Rs 75 crores in Series A to Rs 250 crores pre-valuation in Series B in less than 24 months

- EazyDiner is already profitable in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai on a net profit basis leading to higher investor interest

As the country's only instant table reservation platform - EazyDiner raises Rs 30 crores in it's latest round of funding, Indian Food Tech is back on the radar of global investors, with the focus also moving to the dining-in space at restaurants. To quote Benedict Evans, the Silicon Valley-based VC at Andreessen Horowitz - "Food Away from home is picking up while the 'Food at home' or delivery at home is on the decline." With Asian markets following US trends over a 3-4 year lag time, the Indian market is headed in the same direction with table reservations making a hot entry into the Food Tech space for investors. Open Table, the global leader in table reservations was bought by the Priceline group for US 2.6 Billion dollars in 2014.

EazyDiner is an instant table reservation platform that also offers curated content from leading food critics and is building the country's first F&B loyalty programme that offers points on every table booking at over 2500 top-end restaurants across India with over 5 lac subscribers. This is in addition to the 2 million people who use it every month for restaurant discovery. Rohit Dasgupta, CEO, EazyDiner, said, "We are today seating over 1,00,000 diners every month all across India, making us the largest instant table reservation platform in India. Our proprietary product, LiveTable enables the instant confirmation promise to our customers and is today installed in hundreds of top end restaurants and we are able to confirm a table reservation within 18 seconds as compared to the other dining platforms which take close to 3 minutes." 

Speaking on the investment, Deepak Shahdadpuri, MD, DSG Consumer partners, said, "EazyDiner continues to grow exponentially with strategic alliances and we are very proud as DSG was the first investor in the company. It is a market leader in its segment and is reducing the friction between the diner and the restaurant significantly. We are committed to be investing in EazyDiner for the long term and pleased with profitability in 4 cities in a short span of 2.5 years." 

Millennials, the next generation to lead India spends Rs 11,800 a month on an average on eating out. The population of this critical segment is expected to grow to 640 million by 2020. And to top it all, 87% of their disposable income will be spent on eating out. It's no surprise with such facts published in the Goldman Sachs report, Investor interest just does not lie in delivery but dining out space as well.

The start-up launched in April 2015 has also piqued interest from the existing large online companies. In May 2017, TripAdvisor, the 6 Billion dollar US giant announced its exclusive tie-up with EazyDiner, with all table reservations on TripAdvisor being powered by EazyDiner. TripAdvisor is the world's largest travel company and views restaurants as an integral part of an individual's travel plan.

After EazyDiner's integration with TripAdvisor, Google followed the suit and has integrated with EazyDiner to source the curated content on EazyDiner that comes in the form of restaurant reviews by leading food critics with unique insider tips. 

Teruhide Sate, Founder, BeeNext, said, "What we love about EazyDiner is the founding team, domain expertise and the right market strategy. Experienced restauranteurs with a strong technology team backed by India's best food critics gives them a domain that they can win in. We believe they will continue to be very strong influencers and the mainstay of Food and Beverage in India."

Rohit added, "We believe that diners are now seeking original and curated content rather than just user generated content. Today, we have a team of the 11 best food critics in India based in every city and led by Vir Sanghvi ,who regularly rate and review the most popular and trending restaurants in town. This content is unique to EazyDiner and hence Google today has integrated with us to throw up our Critic Reviews when someone searches for a restaurant." 

The venture signed-up cricketer Yuvraj Singh who also invested funds from YouWeCan ventures and came on board as its Brand Ambassador in June. On 5th October 2017, Yuvraj launched 'FreeCheers' a new bar and nightlife product to get a user a drink for less than Rs 17 at the best bars in town every day.

The start-up is present across 9 cities and 2 countries in India and UAE with Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, Goa and Ahmedabad already live. EazyDiner will be expanding to 12 cities including Jaipur, Udaipur and Hyderabad in the next 3 months. EazyDiner is definitely encouraging users to get out of bed and eat out more with exciting deals and instant confirmations.

About EazyDiner: 

EazyDiner is India's first curated table reservation platform that helps a user read concise reviews and recommendations by top critics, offering real time guaranteed restaurant reservations. The user experience includes, finding great restaurants and bars to making instant online reservations with exciting deals, ranging from a glass of wine to a dessert platter - all within 30 seconds. EazyDiner was founded in 2014 by experienced hoteliers and restaurateurs in a partnership with celebrated journalist and food critic Vir Sanghvi.

With instant reservations at over 2200 partner celebrated restaurants, award winning five star hotels; trend setting bars in India and Dubai, one can take pride in dining at restaurants that don't usually take reservations unless booked through EazyDiner. The platform also provides a customized experience to its diners through its expert 24 hours culinary concierge service for personalized recommendations. EazyDiner is dedicated to leading the Indian dining revolution with an advanced database management of active diners and recommendations by top food critics. The EazyDiner iOS and Android apps have been rated amongst the highest scoring applications in India.

For more details, visit: https://www.EazyDiner.com/.

Media Contact:
Rohit Dasgupta
rohit@eazydiner.com
+91-7042595780
Co-Founder and CEO
EazyDiner.com


Source: EazyDiner