Kenyan food-tech startup, Kune has officially begun commercial operations with four meal hubs located in strategic locations in Nairobi. The locations include Nairobi’s central business district along University Way, Sameer Business Park on Mombasa Road, Thika Road, and Langata Road that will be fully operational by the end of March.
The Kenyan food start-up is looking to raise Sh400 million ($3.5 million) from local and international investors to increase production capacity.
The funds will be used to expand to other towns in Kenya in the next 12 months as the demand for homemade healthy meals on order gains momentum.
“In the past few months, we have seen tremendous growth in demand owing to our dynamic menu and friendly prices. We have invested heavily in research and development where we have a fully dedicated in-house team working consistently on our menu advancement so as to meet the changing demands of customers while also bridging the nutrition and price gap.’’ Faith Mwendia, the Managing Director Kune says.
Kune Food attracted attention from locals after the French-founded startup raised $1 million to fix a problem Kenyans said did not exist.
“After three days of coming into Kenya, I asked where I can get great food at a cheap price, and everybody tell me (sic) it’s impossible,” Robin Reecht, who is French, told Techcrunch in a June 17 interview. “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.”
Kenyans took to Twitter to share their frustrations on what they perceive as a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist, and the belief that Reecht’s white privilege is what got him funded so quickly.
