Startup Story #55: Spindas – A Social Food Platform That Unites

August 28, 2017

Food is a universal point of interest and an aspect that creates bonds between many. Spindas, a social platform, makes this their unique factor to help users interact and engage with other users on the basis of similar food preferences.

“The present food applications available limit the users’ experience to place or customise an order. Most of them feature only commercial restaurants and food outlets. But at Spindas, the engagement can lead to discovery of different tastes and culture,” says Amit Gupta who co-founded the startup in May 2016 along with Varun Mishra and Mayank Yadav.

Pinda in Sanskrit means food and is also a word used for community. On the web application of Spindas, there are three user types – seekers, providers or both. A seeker is a user who wants a specific kind of food provided for them and a provider is a user who is able to provide food of a specific taste and kind. “For the providers, we have a Spindas Quality Assurance test that they have to pass. Our team tests the food for its quality to make sure that the provider is genuine. We also help providers build their profiles. Anyone can be a provider as long as they pass the quality test. The users are free to ask questions, share articles and videos related to food and recipes. This helps to create a food network around the globe,” explains Gupta.

For a provider, there is a four-step sign up and for a seeker there is a two-step sign up. The process collects information about the user regarding their food habits and preferences.

“Food is such an interesting segment. It is an aspect that is required by all! we had to explore this through market research to help standardise it.”

Speaking of the challenges faced while setting this venture up, Gupta says, “Challenges appear from every side like technology, people, startup policies in India and on ground realities of it. But the biggest challenge so far has been keeping a small team motivated with limited resources.”

in just its first phase, this venture has found users not just in India but outside the country as well. “The next phase will be more country specific. Our target market is in India, USA and UK. We’re working on an Android application that should be out in the coming few months. We want to create more women entrepreneurs through this and get standards in place for this market.”