Rotimatic-maker flips ownership in trade sale

ZIMPLISTIC, the Singapore-based company behind Indian flatbread-making machine Rotimatic, has been fully sold to an entity called Light Ray Holdings.

Light Ray Holdings is a special-purpose vehicle incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, say regulatory filings. Following the trade sale, Light Ray will now run and fund Zimplistic.

Founded in 2008 by couple Pranoti Nagarkar and Rishi Israni, Zimplistic attracted funding from government-linked investor EDBI, Koh Boon Hwee's private equity firm Credence Partners, early-stage venture capital (VC) firm Openspace Ventures and Robert Bosch Venture Capital, the VC arm of German multinational firm Bosch. It announced a Series C financing round of US$30 million in April 2018.

But the company was also burning cash at a rapid pace, The Business Times reported in October last year. Losses amounted to US$23.6 million, despite revenue of US$21.2 million, going by financial filings for 2018.

Cash and cash equivalents stood at US$6.8 million as at Dec 31 that year. The company then raised US$7.7 million in July 2019 from the issuance of preference shares, which would have lasted it till November, based on 2018's burn rate.

Zimplistic is one of only a handful of hardware startups in Singapore that has come to prominence. Its invention Rotimatic, which costs US$999, combines 10 active motors, 15 smart sensors and 300 mechanical parts to turn flour, water and oil into one flatbread every 90 seconds. It is meant to eliminate the tedious process of manually making roti.

But hardware has also traditionally been challenging to tackle. Rotimatic went through eight years of development before the first batch of machines were shipped out. The biggest market for the company is the US.

In February, Covid-19 lockdowns affected Zimplistic's supply chain in China, BT reported in May. The company was forced to implement pay cuts.

Mr Rishi said then: "The team considered employees' backgrounds - whether they were single earners, had to provide for many kids, or had other major financial commitments."

Zimplistic had about 100 staff as at October 2019.