House of Biryan raises $2 million to open more outlets

HOB raises $2m from Al Siraj Holdings, a single family office from the Middle East, Angel Star Ventures, US US-based fund out of PA, and accredited HNISs from the US. With this round, $3 million has been raised in total; the majority of that money is being used to support growth in Mumbai and  Delhi-NCR.

HOB is run by Mikhail & Mohammed, Michelin-trained chefs with 15 years of running various kitchens & is supported by successful private equity investors who together own more than 20% of the company led by Mohit Goyal who has 12 years of experience with Carlyle and CVC capital.

Currently, the company has 12 kitchens between Mumbai and Delhi and will add another 30. The platform aims to serve 100k orders every month, crossing the 100 cr ARR mark by December 2025. Revenue per store for the company in the biryani category is 30-50% higher on per store level compared to the accomplished biryani players. This is expected to improve further as the company will launch curries in the next 3 months.

Biryani is the most ordered dish as per marketplace reports; however, it is a complicated category and tricky to scale. Unlike Pizza and Burger, replicability across different zones in the country doesn’t guarantee success.

Mohammed says, "GenZ values taste, freshness, ease, and predictability. Our ability to fulfil an order (from origin to rider) in 11 minutes guarantees that the majority of our current 30,000 monthly orders arrive within 30 minutes. "Our success lies in keeping things simple by delivering a yummy & addictive biryani within 30 minutes," he explains. 

Abhineet Singh, CIO – Al Siraj “I participated in a personal capacity in their previous round and worked closely to witness the consumer love along with solid unit economics. This got us excited to participate with Mohammed and Mikhail, making HOB our first formal bet on India's growth story.

Mohit continues, "The notion with Cloud kitchen QSR bets has been that they are difficult to profit from, but what drew me to HOB was their per-kitchen stats. Coming from a private equity experience, I bet HOB has all the ingredients for significant growth while remaining profitable."

HOB has a clear plan to stay true to its core competencies: "We plan to focus on going deep with biryani, kebabs, Mughlai, and north Indian cuisine, rather than going wide with several brands."Mohammed continues, "We are successful because we rank in the top three consideration sets in every hyperlocal micro market. This is only feasible by being extremely product-oriented. 

The current ARR is 25 crore over 6 businesses that have been open for more than six months, with 6 kitchens that are only a month old on average. He also stated that the goal is to increase profitability. The current burn rate is -2% EBIT and will break even by September 24, with single-digit profitability by December 24. With a 700+ average order value and a high repeat rate, the stats make the aim attainable.