Japanese-themed dining chain Harajuku Tokyo Café has raised $3 million (about ₹28 crore) in a pre-Series A round led by ZeroW, the latest addition to the startup funding in India this week. The round saw participation from Blume Founders Fund, new investors including Brijesh Parekh Family Office and Epigamia cofounder Rahul Jain, alongside existing backers Indian Angel Network (IAN) and Samved VC. The raise was reported by Inc42 on October 22, 2026.
A Japanese dining brand built for Indian metros
Founded in 2021 by London School of Economics alumnus Gaurav Kanwar, Harajuku operates Japanese-themed dining outlets across Delhi NCR and Mumbai through two formats: the casual dine-in chain Harajuku Tokyo Cafe and the quick-service bakery brand Harajuku Bakehouse. The Bakehouse contributes about a third of the startup's top line, and the company claims to have sold more than 1,000 loaves of bread a week on Blinkit in Delhi NCR.
Doubling down after a ₹19 crore seed
The fresh capital comes a little over a year after the company raised a ₹19 crore seed round in August 2025. Since that raise, Harajuku says it has doubled both its outlet count and overall revenue. The new funds will go toward opening 10 outlets across Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chandigarh over the next two quarters, and operationalising central kitchens in Mumbai and Bengaluru by December 2026. The startup is targeting ₹100 crore in revenue this financial year.
The round keeps investor appetite for premium food-and-beverage brands firmly on the menu, as offline dining recovery and quick-commerce discovery hand founders fresh channels to scale.
Why it matters for founders
Harajuku's follow-on round shows that unit economics plus in-house production can win repeat capital in F&B. If you are building a food brand, pair a strong flagship format with a high-margin secondary line (like the Bakehouse) — diversified revenue makes the growth story far easier to fund.