When CEO Amir Allam set out pitching his startup idea to restaurants, to put up their menus on his platform elmenus, he met stiff resistance. “Why would any serious food business do that knowing the large competition in the market” was the response he mostly got. Now, ten years down the line, elmenus has not only broken down the walls of resistance, or raised about $10m in VC funding, the company has now secured the backing of a crucial voice in the industry — that of former Chief Executive Officer of London-headquartered food delivery company, Just Eat, David Buttress.
“As we aim to become the go-to food app for all dining decisions, and a partner of choice to restaurants to help them solve their scaling challenges in the Mena region, I believe David’s insights and exceptional record will play a vital role in accelerating our growth and guiding Elmenus in acquiring a significant share of the market. We are very excited to be working with an industry veteran like David. His belief in our vision is a grand testament to us,” said Allam.
Here Is What You Need To Know
- The latest funding comes almost a year after Elmenus secured $8 million in a Series B round led by Dubai-based Global Ventures and Cairo-based Algebra Ventures with participation from Tarek Sakr and Hamad Al Homizi, the co-founders of Kuwait’s 4Sale. It also comes about 4 years after it secured $1.5 million Series A led by Algebra Ventures.
- How much Buttress invested in this round was not disclosed, but in February 2020, he poured over $1m into Paperclip, an online listing platform that allows users to browse, bid or sell thousands of pre-owned items.
- Following this investment, Buttress will be joining elmenus’ board of directors. He will also bring decades of immense entrepreneurial and investment experience along with him to the company. Buttress started with Just Eat when it started in 2006, stayed through, including leading the UK company in making numerous global acquisitions and investments. He particularly led the acquisition of MenuLog in Australia for $855 million as well as taking a majority stake in Brazil’s iFood.
- Buoyed with the new capital injection, over the course of the next 18 months, elmenus will scale its offering further, expand its market share, and enhance its social and personalised dish discovery experience, with 4000 new drivers to be recruited.
Why Buttress Invested
Buttress understands the industry very well and thus, knows where his money is going into. His investment could be the best confirmation that Elmenus knows what it is doing.
“elmenus’ exponential growth this past year has been quite remarkable,” he said. “It has been owning the food discovery approach, making it the stronger partner to restaurants as it provides them with more than just online ordering services.
“While elmenus witnessed a 3x growth in 2020 since delivery increased drastically in light of the Covid-19 challenges and more restaurants outsourced their delivering operations, the company is expected to grow 10x in 2021 as it upscales its product and restaurant offerings. It is an exciting time in the company’s evolution,” he added.
Apart from being a private investor, Buttress is currently, also, a venture partner at global venture capital firm 83 North. He has several successful startups in his portfolio.
Read also: Plotting Africa’s Startup Funding Landscape: A List Of Over 500 Active Investors In The Last 5 Years
A Look At What Elmenus Does
Founded in 2011 by Amir Allam, elmenus had initially started as a food discovery platform with the aim to help users discover restaurants and menus online.
But after raising a $1.5 million Series A led by Algebra Ventures in 2017, the company, in 2018, pivoted its product into an online food ordering service, with restaurants delivering the orders. The company now counts over 1.5 million monthly users and claims to have achieved 300 percent month-on-month growth.
“You need to be very focused on what you want to achieve,” said Amir to Wamda, an online tech publication, in 2019. “So, if there is a problem, you need to be very clear on how you want to solve it and how you can take it to the next level. Since day one, we have been trying to solve the problem of making the right decision at the right time for each user and this has been sustained as a vision and it gets very exciting as we progress trying to figure out different solutions.”
Last year, Elmenus launched it own fleet of drivers.
“…it is not easy to sustain your passion and motivation for a long time,” Amir further said.
“A lot of people either give up or they struggle to renew their motivation for the business and I think this is something that one has to be very conscious of. So, unless you have the right motive and the right incentives and the right people to work with, and all of this is aligned, you will be in big trouble,” he added.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer