Pluckk, a digital lifestyle-oriented fresh food brand in the fruits and vegetables (F&V) space, announced the acquisition of KOOK. This Indian food-tech startup offers a range of DIY meal kits at a deal value of $1.3 million. The acquisition was through a combination of cash and equity, the company said in a statement.
Cooking becomes easier for everyone with KOOK’s DIY ready-to-cook meal kits, with pre-portioned ingredients and simple instructions. KOOK has a significant presence in Delhi and Mumbai and is known for catering to various dietary choices and cooking skills.
“With KOOK’s strong target audience and expertise in meal kits, Pluckk is well-positioned to deliver the best quality fresh food to end-consumers in this thriving $15 billion market,” it said.
The acquisition will allow Pluckk to provide customers across India with an unbeatable farm-to-fork experience, according to Nelson D’Souza, CFO of Pluckk. KOOK has proven expertise in building a world-class product in the meal-kit space, and Pluckk’s commitment to providing safe and chemical-free produce will strengthen this expertise.
“In the post-covid world, ready to cook meal kits have emerged as a sought after cooking trend with customers preferring to control the quality of food consumed while having more dining options which we look to leverage by offering this differentiator to our customer experience,” said D’Souza.
“Further, from a unit economics point-of-view, this is a welcome addition to our portfolio and will help us accelerate our journey towards building a profitable business,” he added.
The statement said that Pluckk’s acquisition of KOOK is a strategic move to tap into the immense growth potential of the meal kit market and offers significant opportunities for Pluckk.
The global market is expected to increase by 20% from 2021 to 2025, from $15.21 billion to $31.5 billion.
“The synergies between what we are building at KOOK and the lifestyle-first approach that Pluckk brings to the fruits and vegetables category seem very compelling,” said KOOK’s co-founder, Arpitta Jerath.
“Our range of DIY meal kits, combined with Pluckk’s digital lifestyle-oriented brand, will allow us to offer even more convenience and healthy meal options to the discerning customers in the ever-growing markets Pluckk operates in.”
KOOK, co-founder, Nikhil Thatai said, “We estimate the market size of meal kits to be around $1 billion by 2025 in India and we look forward to leveraging our expertise in meal kit delivery to offer healthy and delicious meal options to cater to this booming market in our country.”
Nikhil and Arpitta, both ISB graduates, founded the DIY meal kit startup KOOK in 2020. With a presence in Delhi and Mumbai, KOOK was established to make cooking at home simple and hassle-free.
Pluckk provides a farm-to-fork product range for health-conscious consumers with safe and chemical-free produce with their ozone wash and traceability programme.
Customers have access to a wide choice of products beyond the basics, such as organic and exotic produce, and can buy based on food trends like gut health, heart health, and diabetes.
Pluckk’s products are available on their direct-to-consumer (D2C) platform and partner platforms like Blinkit, Swiggy, Zepto, Dunzo, and Amazon.
Pluckk offers various special gourmet fruits and vegetables directly to end-consumers, cutting out mediators. It was co-founded by Pratik Gupta and received seed funding from Exponentia Ventures (EV), with current operations in Bangalore and Mumbai.
Over 500 farmers from Mumbai and Bengaluru have already joined the platform, which hopes to sign up 1,000 more in the next six months.
