An order, Egypt’s supply chain solutions provider for restaurants, has raised $3 million of seed funding led by Nclude with participation from A15 and Delivery Hero Ventures. The latest funding brings the total funding raised by the startup to $10.5
million, including $6.5 million of working capital financing from financial institutions.
Launched in March of this year, OneOrder makes it possible for restaurants to order food supplies through its online platform, solving fragmented supply chain challenges that lead to erratic pricing, waste, quality issues, and storage costs.
By using their platform, restaurants no longer have to deal with dozens of suppliers and can order only what they need, for next-day delivery, avoiding waste and eliminating the need for warehouses. The platform also ensures operational efficiency and helps restaurants save money by taking advantage of OneOrder’s economies of scale.
The startup plans to use the funds to scale its operations in Egypt, including increasing its warehouse footprint, and explore growth opportunities within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region and Africa.
“We are exploring Saudi Arabia and expanding to the south of our continent. I think Africa has a lot of markets that feel the same pain points as Egypt,” said OneOrder co-founder and CEO, tamer lover, who co-founded OneOrder with Karim Mauritius (CTO), also the founder of Cube, an online restaurant reservation service.
“The solution we are providing has shown that this industry is ready for technology solutions…[and] we are working on a more substantial operating system for restaurants, not just the supply chain and inventory management system, but the full cycle that would make their operations automatic by using artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities to drive the supply chain,” said Amer, a restaurateur for more than two decades, initially in the US before settling in Egypt beginning in 2008.
Amer, told TechCrunch that the sourcing challenges he experienced operating two restaurants in Egypt, Fuego, a sushi bar, and Longhord Texas Barbeque, inspired the launch of OneOrder, to serve the country’s total addressable market of 400,000 restaurants.
“I had always taken the supply chain in the US for granted; we ordered and got the supplies all the time. We didn’t have to worry about shortages or price changes. I realized that Egypt is so underserved and that the industry is really doing a lot of things that we shouldn’t be doing,” she said.
“…restaurants shouldn’t have a full-time job monitoring the supply chain and sourcing because it takes away their focus on their core business, which is serving customers. So that’s where the idea really started,” he said.
OneOrder plans, through its partners and supported by its extensive data, to begin extending working capital financing options to restaurants as a way to help them scale their operations.
Basil Moftah, Managing Partner at Nclude, said: “The product-to-market fit of the OneOrder solution is very impressive, along with the positive impact it is delivering to all stakeholders in the value chain. Using alternative technology and data, OneOrder’s integrated financing will help underserved customers who are unable to obtain traditional financing. This aligns perfectly with our investment philosophy and we are happy to embark on this journey with the team.”
