Jae Won Lim says India is a key market for Korean origin pizza
Korean-origin GOPIZZA said its recently raised Rs.200 crore in a Series C funding round is to massively scale up operations and become pan-India market leader with the launch of 100+ stores next year.
Buoyed by the inflow of new capital, GOPIZZA CEO Mahesh Reddy said, “Our expansion plan is to launch 100 stores by 2023. The funds will also be deployed to bring the brand’s famed technology to all outlets in India providing speedy, superior quality pizzas that GOPIZZA is known for and loved by customers worldwide.
“The funding raised will allow us to massively scale our operations across the country and further cement our position in the Indian market in an aim to become the pan-India market leader in the segment,” he said on 17 Oct 2022.
The funding was co-led by GS Ventures, CJ Investment, Mirae Asset Securities, NCORE Ventures, Woori Bank, Capstone Partners, Big Basin Capital, DS Asset Management, and Pureun Investment.
The fresh capital will be utilized for aggressive expansion plans in the country, backed by new-age robotic and AI technologies, said GOPIZZA.
“Owing to our great performance in the last few years, we are delighted to announce a big round of funding. We are very excited to bring the Korean vibe and our state-of-the-art food technology to the fastest-growing market in the world.”
The brand’s strategy in India since inception has been tailored to the tastes of the market with a localized menu, different from that of Korea and Singapore.
In the next few years, GOPIZZA will establish outlets in Pune, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and some key Tier 2 cities including Chandigarh, Jodhpur, Jaipur and Kochi.
Globally the brand will foray into new markets of Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and the United States.
GOPIZZA is known for its one-person, oval-shaped, fire-baked pizza with quick serving speed and affordable price. It has 160 outlets across South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, India and Hongkong.
In India, the brand has 15 outlets and opening its first store in Hyderabad next month. The brand aims to reach 25 outlets by the end of 2022 and more than 100 stores by 2023.
The single-serving pizza brand will also introduce its patented in-house technology – The GOVEN, an automatic pizza oven, the ‘GOBOT’ a cooperative robot, and the ‘AI Smart Topping Table’ to ensure timely, standardized quality and service to customers at all outlets.
GOPIZZA’s first outlet in the country opened in Bangalore in 2019 offering one-person pizzas of superior quality at competitive prices. The brand has previously raised US$20 million in funding from Woori Bank, Capstone Partners, Big Basin Capital, DS Asset Management, and DSC Investment.
In 2016, 27-year-old Jae Won (Jay) Lim started serving tasty, one-person-sized pizzas from a food truck on the premise that pizzas could be inexpensive when eaten by an individual alone. Spurred by the immense popularity of these oval-shaped pizzas, he established his first outlet in South Korea in 2017 and since then GOPIZZA has seen explosive growth in 5 countries with over 160 stores.
The Korean brand, with its unique take on pizza, now aims to make people consider it a single-serving dish, with a goal to expand to more than 300 locations in the next 2 years making it a truly global pizza chain. fiinews.com
