[wd_hustle id=”InArticleOptin” type=”embedded”/]
Contxto – Foodtech Choco chomped up a healthy investment this week. The startup raised US$30.2 million in a round led by Coatue Management.
Choco will use the funding to consolidate its foothold in the eight countries where it already operates: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, the United States, the Netherlands, Belgium, and (as of last February) Brazil. The foodtech will also further develop its technology.
Choco developed a platform that connects restaurants with their vendors to make the supply chain process of getting their ingredients easier.
Although the startup is from Germany, one of its three co-Founders, Rogério da Silva, has roots in Brazil having studied at the Faculdade de Tecnologia de São Paulo.
Hungry, hungry, foodtech Choco
Entrepreneurs Julian Hammer, Rogério Da Silva, and Daniel Khachab founded Choco in 2018. Their objective is to make it easier for restaurants to communicate and manage the supply chain process with their vendors.
Through their platform, restaurants can oversee and manage their orders, keep tabs on purchasing, and avoid mixups.
Choco had previously raised a US$33.5 million Series A investment through Bessemer Venture Partners in October of last year.
While we’re at it, let’s make the most of all this food-talk and pick up a few tips on how to improve our own cooking skills:
Soft-landing tech with the skeptics
Despite all this tech talk, the world is filled with innovation-skeptics. These non-believers may prefer doing things “the old fashion way”: pen and paper, phone calls, face-to-face meetings, to name a few. Even if it implies they waste resources by sticking to their guns.
They may be hesitant to adopt digital solutions because the use of physical forms is “how it’s always been done.” Others may turn the other way because they don’t want to disrupt their already-hectic workloads to learn how to use a new tool.
All of this poses a significant challenge for startups. Some startups may (erroneously) want to convince/force their users to see things their way. Nonetheless, founders must learn how to work with or around these obstacles. That way, they ease the tech-adoption process for the users they say they want to help.
And that’s an interesting point touched by Choco that’s worth highlighting and making a note of:
“The main objective for Choco is to provide value to suppliers and restaurants while integrating into their workflow as seamlessly as possible,” explained the startup’s co-Founder, Daniel Khachab.
“While we offer our own proprietary web and app tool for suppliers to receive orders on and restaurants to send orders on, if they are not yet ready to make this change because of their existing workflow, we have this option also.”
Correspondingly, the startup allows suppliers to receive orders through an online platform, as well as via text, email, and even fax.
This type of approach can save startups a lot of headaches by soft-landing the tech adoption process for their users.
A little empathy can come a long way.
Related articles: Tech and startups from Brazil!
-ML
