Gourmet Baby Food Catering Startup Grouu Bags 6 Billion Rupiah Seed Funding

The gourmet baby food catering startup Grouu announced a $400,000 seed funding (approximately IDR 6 billion) from Selera Kapital, the Sour Sally Group's investment arm. Several angel investors participated, including Wesley Harjono (Plug and Play Indonesia's Managing Director) and Rama Notowidigdo (Co-founder of Sayurbox and AwanTunai).

The company will use the fresh money to expand service coverage by opening satellite kitchens in several major cities in Indonesia, as well as diversifying packaged food products.

Grouu positioned its platform as a provider of complementary feeding (MPASI) for infants aged six months and over with the selection of quality raw materials, taste, and complete nutritional ingredients for each dish. Amidst busy activities in taking care of early childhood, the practical, healthy and nutritious baby food is quite essential for today's parents.

Meanwhile, the children's malnutrition and health issues is still the Indonesian government's chore. Based on Indonesian Ministry of Health's data in 2020, the prevalence of stunting (short) in Indonesian toddlers is recorded at 27.7%, or 28 out of 100 toddlers. In fact, the first 1,000 days of a baby's life is a golden age for child growth and development. Unfortunately, many children whom hands are holding the nation's future are still experiencing nutritional problems at an early age.

Grouu's Co-founder & CEO, Jessica Marthin explained, "We understand that one of the difficulties parents face during their child's growth is providing varied food choices to support optimal growth and development.

“Grouu is here to be a delicious and healthy complementary food solution to support urban parents amidst their busy lives. Through this funding, we will expand and innovate to reach more parents in Indonesia," Jessica said in an official statement, Tuesday (1/25).

The founder of Selera Kapital, Donny Pramono, expressed his belief in Grouu's vision and mission in providing quality food for Indonesian children. In addition, he sees Grouu's commitment to providing the best service for parents by presenting a meal subscription management platform that makes it easy for parents to schedule food delivery in real time.

"Selera Kapital is ready to support Grouu through synergies with our various portfolios and business units in the food and beverage category," Donny said. Grouu adds to Selera Kapital's investment portffolio, there are also ESB (Esensi Solusi Buana), Wahyoo, Yummy Corp, and EVOS Esports.

Grouu has served more than 200,000 servings of complementary foods by 2021. All of its products are made using quality fresh ingredients without preservatives, colorings, flavor enhancers, including salt and sugar. Grouu has obtained a Health Eligibility Certificate from the DKI Jakarta Health Office, therefore, its cleanliness is guaranteed as the right choice of complementary foods for children.

Each menu is prepared by a team of nutritionists, food scientists, and chefs to meet the baby's daily nutritional needs. Grouu also provides various choices of food textures that is adaptable to the baby's needs at the developmental age.

Parents can enjoy free shipping every day through a flexible subscription package that is supported by a meal subscription management platform that makes it easy to choose menus, as well as textures easily and in real time, to the convenience of making various changes from the delivery date and address.

–Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian