(Bloomberg) — US venture capital company General Catalyst Group Management LLC is leading a seed round for Huuva Oy that will help the cloud-kitchen company expand from Finland to Berlin.
Founded last year, Huuva builds and operates delivery-only restaurants in neighborhoods outside city centers with scant food offerings. It licenses menus from established brands, allowing clients to order meals from a range of restaurants in the same delivery.
“It means no more fighting with the family whether to get sushi, pizza, salad or Indian,” Ville Leppala, co-founder and chief executive officer, said in an interview. “We want to take a good selection of restaurants beyond city centers, allowing us to run a profitable business in an area where a traditional restaurant wouldn’t be able to turn a profit.”
The 4.9 million-euro ($5.3 million) equity investment will enable a fast ramp up in Finland from its current six locations and an expansion to Berlin next month. Huuva is aiming for five kitchens in the German capital by the end of the year. The Helsinki-based company runs its kitchens with the help of software for efficiency gains, Leppala said, adding that the company targets monthly revenue growth of 20% to 30%.
Other backers in the funding round included Lifeline Ventures as well as angel investors such as Ilkka Paananen, the founder of game-maker Supercell. They also took part in a pre-seed round that raised 1.05 million euros in the autumn. Founders Leppala and Ville Lehto still own a majority of the company. Leppala declined to provide a valuation, saying it was “typical” and “in line with peers.”
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