Coca-Cola, the beverage giant, is reportedly poised to make its first investment in an Indian startup. The company is said to be purchasing a minority stake in Thrive, a food ordering platform that competes directly with Swiggy and Zomato. Thrive is a search and delivery platform that has formed partnerships with over 5,500 restaurants.
As per a Coca-Cola executive, the strategic investment in Thrive will provide a competitive advantage to Coca-Cola and incentivize customers to exclusively order Coca-Cola beverages alongside their food orders. Additionally, the investment will aid customers in personalizing their orders, purchasing bundled deals, meal combinations, and loyalty codes.
Coca-Cola’s investment in Thrive will facilitate greater consumer engagement as Thrive has a significant number of mid-sized restaurant partners.
Coca-Cola offers a range of beverages that includes aerated drinks like Coke and Thums Up, as well as juices like Minute Maid, water under the brand Kinley, and coffee under the brand Georgia.
In 2020, three entrepreneurs, Dhruv Dewan, Karan Chechani, and Krishi Fagwani, founded Thrive to enable customers to order food from a selection of restaurant partners. Additionally, the platform provides restaurants the option to construct their own sub-portals. Previously known as Hashtag Loyalty and focused on offline food retail businesses, Thrive Now was launched amidst the pandemic in 2020.
Among its list of investors are Jubilant Foodworks, which holds the master franchise for Domino’s Pizza in India, and the payment company Razorpay.
