Today in Food Commerce: DoorDash Delivers Office Supplies; Restaurants Tap Card-on-File Payments

Today in food commerce, Indian B2B seafood and meat marketplace startup Captain Fresh’s valuation soars, and DoorDash gets into on-demand office supply delivery. Plus, PYMNTS data reveal that restaurants can drive sales with card-on-file payment capabilities.

B2B Seafood Seller Captain Fresh Valued at $500M After Series C

Indian B2B seafood and meat marketplace startup Captain Fresh has more than doubled its valuation to $500 million since the beginning of the year following a $50 million Series C round. The founding round — led by existing investors Prosus Ventures and Tiger Global, along with Accel India, Matrix Partners India, Ankur Capital, and Incubate Fund — will allow the company to make acquisitions, CEO and co-founder Utham Gowda said in a Monday (March 7) Economic Times report.

Card-on-File Payments Boost Diner Spending, Restaurant Performance

Restaurants can boost consumers’ spending by saving payment information, according to data from PYMNTS’ Restaurant Friction Index, created collaboration with Paytronix. The study found that more than 1 in 4 restaurant customers say that they would be more inclined to shop with restaurants that offer the ability to pay with a card on file than with those that do not.

Mobile Order-Ahead Ranking Serves a Full Plate, With 15 Apps in the Top 10

In this month’s edition of the PYMNTS’ Provider Ranking of Mobile Order-Ahead Apps, 15 contenders have earned a place in the top 10. On the menu are apps ranked using a proprietary combination of publicly available information plus app usage data to which PYMNTS has access.

DoorDash Announces on-Demand Office Supply Delivery

As food delivery aggregators look to improve the economics of their business model by diversifying into new categories, DoorDash is getting into office supply delivery. The company announced Monday (March 7) that it has partnered with Office Depot to offer delivery from more than 1,000 Office Depot and OfficeMax locations.

Drone Food Delivery Scales Up as Restaurants, Consumers Seek Cost-Friendly Options

Yariv Bash, CEO of drone delivery provider Flytrex, speaks with PYMNTS about how the space has evolved since last summer: “Now that we have approval from the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] for a one nautical mile radius, we’re currently servicing a potential of close to 10,000 households, so it’s really starting to scale.”