Curefood's IPO, BlackBuck’s Name Change, and BYJU’S Sorrows

India is about to witness something it has never seen before - a cloud kitchen company going public. Curefoods, the cloud kitchen brand started by Cure.fit co-founder Ankit Nagori, has filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI to raise ₹800 crore. If approved, it would become the country’s first cloud kitchen to be listed on the stock exchange.

This is a significant milestone, but also one filled with questions.

Cloud kitchens are supposed to be asset-light, tech-enabled food businesses that operate without a physical dine-in presence. That’s the theory. In practice, the cloud kitchen model is notoriously tough. They deal with high burn, intense competition, low brand loyalty, and commission-heavy reliance on Swiggy and Zomato. The margins are thin, and loyalty is almost non-existent in food delivery.

Curefoods knows this reality well. The company has grown fast, with over 150 kitchens across 15 cities, and more than 10 brands under its umbrella, including EatFit, CakeZone, Nomad Pizza, Frozen Bottle, and Great Indian Khichdi. It has served over 20 million orders so far. But growth has come at a cost.

In FY23, the company clocked ₹395 crore in revenue but reported a loss of ₹300 crore. That means it burned 76 paise for every rupee it earned. In FY24, unaudited numbers suggest revenue grew to ₹546 crore, but losses still stood at ₹280 crore.

What’s going to change with the IPO?

Curefoods is planning to raise ₹300 crore through a fresh issue and ₹500 crore via an offer for sale. Existing investors like Iron Pillar, Binny Bansal, and Accel are looking for partial exits. These investors want to monetize their investments, especially since Curefoods is still loss-making.

But there’s a bigger question here: Can a cloud kitchen company ever be profitable at scale?

Curefoods has tried to answer this by acquiring multiple brands, consolidating kitchen infrastructure, and building a tech layer for supply chain optimization. It has moved towards central kitchens, better forecasting, and tighter control over inventory. But it’s still up against the same structural problems: high competition, no pricing power, and dependency on Zomato and Swiggy for visibility.

There’s also a bigger context to this IPO.

India’s IPO market is heating up again. Companies across fintech, e-commerce, logistics, and now food delivery are preparing to go public. For many of them, this is the first real liquidity event after years of venture funding. Investors want exits. Founders want public validation and financial security. And retail investors are eager to back names they recognize.

Curefoods’ IPO will test whether public markets are ready to bet on a high-burn food delivery brand with no physical stores and no loyalty lock-in.

There’s a risk. Investors have seen this movie before. Rebel Foods, which runs Faasos, Behrouz Biryani, and Oven Story, was once the poster child of the cloud kitchen wave. But even they haven’t managed to turn a meaningful profit. Zomato had to shut down its own cloud kitchens, and Swiggy’s Access Kitchens never really scaled. This space is a graveyard of good ideas and bad margins.

And yet, Curefoods is different in some ways. It has avoided the temptation to build a single mega-brand. Instead, it has built a portfolio - healthy food, desserts, biryani, pizzas, smoothies. It has layered on tech to control quality and cost. And it has tried to own distribution through EatFit’s direct app and website.

But even then, the road ahead will not be easy.

The biggest challenge will be managing burn while chasing growth. Every new kitchen costs money. Every new brand needs marketing. And customer loyalty is fragile when every competitor is one swipe away. Unless Curefoods can show clear unit economics, better customer retention, and improved margins, the public markets may not be forgiving.

There’s also the question of timing. With Zomato turning profitable, public markets are more optimistic about internet-first food companies. Curefoods may be trying to ride that sentiment. But Zomato has a huge scale advantage and a direct relationship with consumers. Curefoods is renting attention from others.

That’s why this IPO will be closely watched. If it succeeds, it will open doors for other cloud kitchen startups to go public. If it fails, it may send the sector into another winter.

Let’s go through what else is happening in Indian startup world - Grab your simmering cup of StartupChai.in and unwind with our hand-brewed memes.

“Nahi Chalegi, Tanashahi Nahi Chalegi”: BlackBuck receives Rs 28.6 lakh tax demand, seeks name change from Zinka Logistics

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The company says it’ll appeal and that the fine print won’t dent its finances. Meanwhile, it's also planning a name change from Zinka Logistics, perhaps hoping a new name brings smoother roads ahead.

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“Waah Kya Scene Hai”: US Bankruptcy Court finds Byju Raveendran in contempt, imposes daily fines

BYJU’s founder Byju Raveendran has landed in deeper trouble, this time with a U.S. bankruptcy court holding him in contempt and slapping a $10,000-per-day fine starting July 1.

He argued the court has no jurisdiction, but fresh evidence said otherwise. With his wife and brother also named, this edtech saga is turning into a legal thriller across continents.

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“Berlin Tu, Mai Bengaluru”: Bengaluru-Berlin partnership to drive startup exchange, says Priyank Kharge

Bengaluru and Berlin just got a little closer with a new partnership aiming to supercharge innovation and startup exchange.

Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge announced the tie-up with Berlin’s Mayor, promising soft-landing support and tech collaboration under the Global Innovation Alliance. From chai to currywurst, it’s a startup love story in the making.

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