Decoding Shorts - 7
Research shows that people spend around ~1 hour every week planning their daily meals and shop for groceries respectively. Adding to these time-consuming tasks are problems like how to cook, what to buy & in what quantity, how to strike balance between taste and health, etc. But with problems arrive opportunities. Imagine having a GPS to navigate through these kitchen complexities - helping you decide your meal, plan your groceries, showcase new cuisines and much more. tinychef, founded in 2017 by Bahubali Shete, Asha Shete, and Chef Sanjeev Kapoor is at your rescue.
TinyChef acts as your personalized AI-integrated “conversational” kitchen assistant, that covers the entire journey of “Plan - Shop - Cook”. It offers you features like AI-backed meal planning, automatic grocery list building, 1-click grocery shopping, and access to 3 Mn recipes. It works in complete sync with Alexa & Google Home smart speakers to offer you a voice-enabled hands-free cooking guide.
But a critical question - was India ready to modernize its kitchen with deep tech? It seems so! The company has gained strong traction of over 1mn users and 100K active monthly users. The Covid pandemic paved the way for “in-house cooking” and tech-enabled platforms as TinyChef flourished. With more women entering the workforce, kitchen chores are getting divided between men and women. For people moving out of their homes for work – the concept of a smart connected kitchen gained momentum. Currently, Tinychef is present in India and North America. Sensing the vast market opportunity, it is looking to expand in the US and European markets over the next few years.
Now let’s evaluate how the company is monetizing its services. For the B2C segment, it has a freemium model and is looking to build a sizable base for its premium segment. While from the B2B segment, it earns revenue from Voice-Ads, subscriptions, and commission on grocery shopping. The voice marketing industry is expected to reach $40bn by 2022 and TinyChef is well poised to take advantage of this. Being a comprehensive platform covering the entire cooking value chain and various tailwinds on its side, the company is on the path of building a sticky user base (read high retention). It targets an ARR of USD 40-50mn by 2025, with the US geography expected to contribute a large chunk.
Do you think TC can continue its exponential growth? Throw in your views and comments!
Author: Yogakshem Dangi