Two foodtech eGroceries startups, Jumlaty in Saudi Arabia and Appetito in Egypt, have announced their merger into a new company, NOMU.

With a capacity to cover the existing infrastructure of 25 million people and 100,000 F&B stores, including strategic partners such as Savola, Almarai, and Nestle, NOMU is currently present in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco. It aims to become Mena’s leading food-tech supply chain platform.

“Appetito and Jumlaty have been, separately but similarly, working hard to reinvent the grocery supply chain. Both have focused on reliability, speed, and affordability, building a solid reputation and a loyal customer base of families and F&B businesses. Our merger will set us on the path to reach SAR 100 Million in revenue (USD 25 Million) and positive EBITDA within 2023, with important synergies on the tech, marketing and procurement fronts.” commented Shehab Mokhtar, CEO of Appetito, now CEO of NOMU.

According to Salman Attieh, CEO of Jumlaty and current Chairman of NOMU, the agreement was made possible by a common mindset and direction:

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 “Both companies shared the same vision on how to transform the industry, combining smart tech, lean operations with a deep focus on unit economics. Together we capture the entire value chain, from monthly shopping to weekly refills and outdoor dining. Most importantly our journey now as one company will be accelerated thanks to an incredible team of international talents and supportive investors,” he said.

Ahmed Demerdash, COO of Appetito and now COO of NOMU, reflects on the merger’s outstanding potential:

 “Our new entity is now present in four promising countries, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco, with a smart grid of 16 warehouses, and a capacity to cover the existing infrastructure of 25 million people and 100,000 F&B stores, and delivery promises that range from one hour to next day fulfillment”.

Yassir El Ismaili El Idrissi, Chief Growth and Expansion Officer of Appetito and now at NOMU, comments on the company’s growth and goals for the next months:

 “We are redeploying our tech talent towards advanced AI-based algorithms covering smart pricing, predictive demand planning and LTV optimisation, and new community-oriented features including group buying, loyalty and embedded finance. On the marketing front, we will keep local brands where it makes sense and all our apps in all our countries will use a common tech and growth platform.”

NOMU’s headquarters will be in Riyadh, with a holding structure in Abu Dhabi’s International Financial Centre, ideally positioned to expand its activities further, with plans to encompass Pakistan and important Sub-Saharan African countries in the near future.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert. 
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh