MANILA, Philippines – Philippine startup CloudEats raised $1.4 million or over P70 million in a seed funding round, paving the way for further expansion in the country and in Southeast Asia.

The investment – led by local family offices with stakes in real estate and food and beverage, as well as regional angel investors – comes as demand for digital transactions rise amid the coronavirus pandemic.

CloudEats is a cloud kitchen startup, which veers away from the traditional physical restaurant and banks on food deliveries.

All of its food brands are available on food delivery platforms like GrabFood, Foodpanda, and Lalafood, which collectively fulfill over 5 million orders per month in the Philippines.

The company said food products on its platform are 15% to 20% lower than other brands, as the cloud kitchen model is said to be more cost-efficient.

CloudEats is only on its 9th month of operations, yet boasts “very strong traction,” reaching over 3,000 orders a day as of March.

CloudEats operates 5 cloud kitchens with 70 in-house restaurant brands. Offerings include chicken wings, healthy food, rice bowls, beverages, and local cuisines.

“We plan to build over 100 kitchens and offer our in-house brands in at least 4 countries within the next 2 years and be the leading online food group across Southeast Asia,” said CloudEats co-founder and chief executive officer Kimberly Yao.

CloudEats earlier started a charity food drive for medical and local government frontliners who are fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has provided over 60,000 meal donations for frontliners. – Rappler.com