Coca-Cola India invests in foodtech platform Thrive, which aims to change the way you order your meal online

• Thrive provides a self-service tool that enables restaurants to create their own direct-ordering platform in under 10 minutes, regardless of their location in the country.
• According to projections, the online food delivery market in India is expected to grow rapidly at a rate of approximately 35%.
• The partnership is expected to provide Coca-Cola India with access to potential business opportunities and improve its digital consumption offerings.

Coca-Cola India has acquired a 15% minority stake in Thrive, an Indian foodtech platform. This marks the first time the beverage giant has invested in an Indian startup.

Since the pandemic hit, restaurants have had to adapt to a new normal. Hashtag Loyalty, a company in the customer engagement and retention technology for retail and hospitality businesses, realised that the situation wasn't going to improve anytime soon, and that they needed to make changes. To better understand how the new normal was shaping up, they spoke to both their customers and their customers' customers.

Their research revealed several insights, including that health is now a top priority, delivery is no longer a luxury but a necessity, and emotional loyalty is more important than ever. With these insights in mind, Hashtag Loyalty launched Thrive, an all-in-one restaurant-ordering platform that includes delivery, pickup and table ordering with built-in marketing features.

Letting restaurants create their own direct-ordering platform

Thrive, established in 2020 by Hashtag Loyalty co-founders Dhruv Dewan, Karan Chechani and Krishi Fagwani offers restaurants an alternative to partnering with food delivery giants like Zomato and Swiggy.

“The biggest problems faced by restaurants in the online-ordering ecosystem in India include high commission rates charged by delivery aggregators, lack of control over customer data, and difficulty in competing with larger, established players in the market,” reads a LinkedIn article posted by the company. It aims to change this.

Thrive provides a self-service tool that enables restaurants to create their own direct-ordering platform in under 10 minutes, regardless of their location in the country. The company has developed an all-in-one SaaS (software as a service) solution that aids restaurants in creating their own ordering experiences, allowing them to save up to 30% of their revenue and own their customer data.

Restaurants partnering with Thrive can establish their own delivery network and gain access to customer data, which sets them apart from competing aggregators. Moreover, Thrive says it charges a notably low commission fee of only 3% per transaction, giving restaurants the opportunity to earn higher profits. Thrive has expanded its services to more than 10,000 restaurants across India.

Thrive raised $2.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Jubilant FoodWorks Limited in December 2021. Before that, in November 2020, it had raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-Series A round led by Whiteboard Capital and Ahimsa Capital.

The Coca-Cola partnership

The partnership with Coca-Cola India will help Thrive enhance consumer experience by allowing them to order their preferred beverages alongside their desired meals from Thrive's affiliated restaurants.

According to projections, the online food delivery market in India is expected to grow rapidly at a rate of approximately 35%, reaching a gross merchandise value of around $18 billion and accounting for about 18% of the total food service industry by fiscal year 2025. This will be driven by an increase in users from 20 million to 60 million. Coca-Cola India's investment in Thrive is expected to provide the company with access to potential business opportunities in this growing market and improve its digital consumption offerings.