Come Bien Bites Into $1.2M Seed To Expand Food Subscription Service

Mexico-based foodtech company Come Bien closed on a $1.2 million seed round to offer a health food subscription service for businesses and individuals.

Subscribe to the Crunchbase Daily

Denis Cantú and his brother, Evandro, started the company in 2014 after Evandro studied culinary skills in Paris.

“When he came back to Mexico, we were inspired to help people who were struggling to get healthy food,” Denis Cantú told Crunchbase News. “Eating his cooking for six months, I lost over 100 pounds.”

The GAM-SWT group led the investment and was joined by 500 Startups. Prior to this round, Come Bien had raised $200,000, Cantú said.

Carlos Orozco, GAM-SWT CFO, said in a written statement that “Come Bien is aligned with our strategy of offering healthy alternatives, and presents a great opportunity to create synergies to directly reach the final user. We trust Denis, Evandro and all the team, we are sure we can contribute to their growth.”

Prior to the global pandemic, Come Bien was averaging 1,000 daily orders across 50 businesses and decided to go after the seed round to scale up to 10,000 daily orders, Cantú said. The company offers up to 15 different food options each day.

When the pandemic hit and employees stayed home, the company pivoted to enable businesses to offer the food to their employees at their homes, while also opening up a direct-to-consumer option. It also began using a new method of packaging and storage–quick-frozen and vacuum-sealed–so the food would stay fresh for 40 days in the freezer or seven days in the refrigerator after preparation and delivery.

“One of our differentiators is that we are 100 percent integrated, which means we process the orders, cook our own food and manage the delivery,” Cantú said. “We use a hub-and-spoke model in the city and use technology, not just in the software but in the production. That made it really easy to pivot to a new model when COVID-19 hit. We began showing an increase in orders and doubled our revenue for the first time.”

The new funding will be used to create what Cantú said will be the “first mega dark kitchen in Latin America,” which will enable the company to produce those 10,000 daily orders and beyond. In addition, the company will expand into Monterrey and Guadalajara in 2021.

Over the past five years, Come Bien has delivered just under 500,000 meals and plans to close the year reaching 1 million orders. Cantú estimates the dark kitchen will be ready by May, which will put the company in position for high growth in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, Santiago Zavala, managing partner of 500 Startups, said in a written statement that  Come Bien represents an aspect of the entire chain of foodtech that 500 Startups was interested in.

“Denis and Evandro create a link that was lost, they do a great job obtaining high quality ingredients, preparing recipes focused on a healthy lifestyle, cooking them, delivering them efficiently and creating recurrence in users,” he said. “We have been using their service for some years now, and we are pleased to join them as our 201st investment in Latin America.”

Feature photo of Evandro and Denis Cantú courtesy of Come Bien

Blogroll illustration: Li-Anne Dias