Huuva, a Helsinki, Finland-based startup building restaurant cohorts around cities, raised €4.9M in seed funding.
The round was led by General Catalyst, with participation from Lifeline Ventures, and a number of angel investors including Laurel Bowden and Ilkka Paananen.
The company intends to use the funds to ramp up its expansion in Central Europe, recruit +100 new team members with a focus on business and operations talent.
Founded in 2021 by Ville Leppälä and Ville Lehto, Huuva builds delivery-focused restaurant cohorts around cities and suburbs, focusing on bringing new quality restaurant options to yet unserved neighborhoods. Each of Huuva’s kitchens gathers 3-6 restaurant brands under one roof, enabling consumers to order their favorite dishes from multiple brands in one delivery. Its neighborhoods-first approach places its restaurant cohorts around city perimeters, bringing new restaurant options for people outside of the city centers. Before setting up a new kitchen, Huuva’s team analyzes the local trends and current restaurant selection to bring the most fitting restaurants for the specific neighboorhood. At the same time, the company considers the kitchen placements and its delivery operations to put the neighborhood’s comfort first.
Since September 2021, the company has opened six kitchens around the greater Helsinki area. Huuva, which has already partnered with several top restaurant brands in Finland, such as Via Tribunali, Green Hippo and Pupu, is currently planning on opening its first kitchen location in Central Europe.
FinSMEs
01/06/2022