Egyptian startup The Food Lab, a cloud kitchen platform that provides services like procurement, cooking, delivery, data-led insights and recommendations, and marketing for restaurant owners, has raised a US$4.5 million pre-seed funding round to help it expand across Egypt and into new markets.
Launched in 2020 by Kareem El Daly, Ahmed Osman and Wesam Masoud, The Food Lab has developed a technology platform that provides end-to-end services for restaurateurs.
Powered by machine-learning, the startup’s virtual brand consultant provides restaurants with a data-centric dashboard giving restaurateurs recommendations for their brands across operations, finance, menu reengineering, marketing, supplier analysis, and more.
The US$4.5 million pre-seed round was co-led by Nuwa Capital, Shorooq Partners and 4DX Ventures, and also saw participation of the Saudi Arabia-based Al Faisaliah Group and Abdul Majeed Al Hokair, alongside Japan’s Samurai Incubate and other angel investors.
The funds will be used for expansion across Egypt and will also lay the foundation for entry into markets in the Middle East and Africa.
“Our mission is to bridge the gap between restaurants and consumers, and by building technology infrastructure, we are enabling the transformation of Egypt’s food and beverage industry. In large countries like Egypt, with restaurants and consumers spread out over distances, it is imperative for businesses to create an incredible customer experience irrespective of how small or far the consumers are,” said El Daly.
Tamer Azer, partner at Shorooq Partners said infrastructure was in his firm’s DNA.
“The Food Lab is first and foremost an infrastructure company that allows the restaurants we love, to grow and reach more people by giving them access to absolutely everything they need to succeed, from best-in-class ingredients to hard data that helps them serve their customers better. In Egypt’s increasingly more competitive food market, The Food Lab is the best success partner a restaurateur could ever want,” he said.
