Kenyan food startup, Kune, raises $1m pre-seed fund to launch its on-demand food service

Kune, a Kenyan food-tech startup involved in the delivery of freshly made, ready-to-eat meals at arguably affordable prices, announced that it raised $1 million in a pre-seed funding round to launch its on-demand food service in August.

The funding round was led by Launch Africa Ventures, with other investors like Century Oak Capital GmbH, Consonance and ecosystem management firm Pariti. 

CEO Robin Reecht founded Kune in December 2020 after he arrived Kenya from France and found it hard to get affordable ready-to-eat meals.

According to him in an interview with Techcrunch, “After three days of coming into Kenya, I asked where I can get great food at a cheap price, and everybody tell me it’s impossible. It’s impossible because either you go to the street and you eat street food, which is really cheap but with not-so-good quality, or you order on Uber Eats, Glovo or Jumia, where you get quality but you have to pay at least $10.”

He then sought to fill this need by running a pilot a couple of weeks later. Interestingly, the pilot was successful – Kune sold more than 500 meals ($4 average) and tripled its customer base from 50 to 150.

“After three intensive months spent structuring the company, finding land for our factory, and hiring key team members, I started fundraising. I’m delighted that Kune has attracted this level of interest from investors who immediately saw the potential to grow Kune not only in Kenya but across Sub-Saharan Africa,” said Reecht.

With the funds received, Kune intends to launch its freshly made meals and on-demand delivery service after completing its new factory. The company claims it has the capacity to produce up to 5,000 servings a day to Nairobi’s working class and middle-income customers.

“Launch Africa is excited to be leading the first round of financing for this exciting new startup in the Kenyan food sector,” said Baljinder Sharma, director of Launch Africa Ventures. “Leveraging the cloud kitchen model and owning the entire supply chain provides a massive growth and scaling opportunity for Kune Africa, and we are looking forward to seeing the business take off and grow.”