Indonesia F&B startup DailyCo acquires catering player Waku

*This article is adapted from * Deal Street Asia

Indonesian multi-brand F&B operator DailyCo has acquired Wadah Kuliner (Waku), a B2B catering and canteen service provider serving corporate and government institutions, according to a statement on Tuesday.

While the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, Waku CEO and founder Anthony Gunawan has been appointed as Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) of DailyCo as part of the acquisition. He will lead efforts in talent development and organisational alignment across the group.

The Waku brand will continue operating as a wholly owned subsidiary, maintaining its current systems, partnerships, and client relationships.

"At DailyCo, we don't just acquire businesses--we invest in people. From the outset, we saw exceptional potential in Anthony's ability to build and scale a high-impact team grounded in world-class company culture practices. The strength of Waku's internal culture was a key driver of its operational excellence, and we knew that bringing Anthony on as CHRO would be critical to replicating that success across the broader DailyCo as a group," DailyCo founder and CEO Kelvin Subowo said in a statement.

Founded in 2017, Waku has built a strong reputation in institutional food services, providing daily meals, snack boxes, pantry supplies, buffets, and coffee breaks to more than 658 clients across 20 cities in Indonesia. The company delivers over 10 million meals annually, maintains a 98% repeat order rate, and operates through a network of 60+ kitchens. Its extensive menu catalogue of over 15,000 items enables it to support both daily office dining and major event catering, including the FIFA World Cup.

The acquisition significantly expands DailyCo's presence in Indonesia's fragmented institutional catering market, a sector valued at over $62 billion in Jakarta and West Java alone.

In a recent milestone, the merged entity secured a major government contract with Indonesia's Ministry of Religious Affairs to provide pre-packaged meals for the Hajj pilgrimage. The deal is expected to serve high-volume, high-complexity benchmark for the company's capabilities in serving national-scale institutional clients.

"Joining DailyCo is a powerful step forward," said Gunawan. "We're combining scale and culture to redefine what institutional meals can look like in Indonesia-consistent, thoughtful, and built for impact."

While many M&A strategies focus on cutting costs and downsizing, DailyCo is taking a growth-first approach, using acquisitions to expand capabilities and retain top talent. Waku's profitability, 88% year-on-year revenue growth, and EBITDA-positive performance made it an ideal fit for DailyCo's expanding B2B portfolio.

The acquisition aligns with DailyCo's broader strategy to consolidate and professionalise the institutional F&B landscape, traditionally served by small, regional providers. With increasing demand for food safety, nutrition, and operational reliability in workplace and government dining, the company plans to continue identifying strategic acquisitions to scale its national footprint.

In a recent interaction with DealStreetAsia, DailyCo's Subowo said the company is currently evaluating more than 15 food brands for potential acquisition, including Dunkin' Indonesia and PT Inti Prima Rasa-with Waku also on the list.

The potential acquisitions will be partly financed by a new funding round that DailyCo is preparing to raise. Subowo stated the company aims to raise at least as much as it did in the previous funding round, a $24-million Series B round led by Northstar Group and Vertex Growth in June 2022.

The company aims to maintain operational control, preferring super minority investors who bring added value. "It's not just about the money- -it's about shared vision and access," he said.

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