Egypt ’s logistics startup RoadRunner has secured six-figure seed investment from an undisclosed strategic individual investor. The exact amount involved in this round was also not disclosed. 

“Most of the startups are only interested in volumes. We, as a business, however, from day one, have been focused not only on that but on the profitability of these transactions as well. It has helped us reach a fairly large number of transactions in a short time and positive gross profit as well on every single order,” Khaled Taha, the founder, and CEO of RoadRunner. 

Here Is What You Need To Know

• With the latest investment, the startup will launch its on-demand delivery service for individual customers that is expected to be rolled out within the next few weeks. 
• Co-founder and CMO of RoadRunner, Ahmad Radi, said the startup will also be raising a larger round soon, to enable it to expand to some other markets within the Middle East and North Africa. 
• The startup claims that it is also currently working with over 70 restaurants including TBS, Mahraja, and Pasta 2go. It is also in the process of partnering with pharmacies and some other businesses.

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A Look At What The Startup Does

Founded in 2019 by Khaled Taha and Ahmed Radi, both of whom were previously working with Delivery Hero brands in Egypt, RoadRunner offers quick on-demand delivery solutions to restaurants and other businesses in Cairo, Tanta, and Mansoura. The model of RoadRunner is different from conventional food delivery players who partner with restaurants to help them receive orders and deliver it on their behalf for a cut between 25 to 35 percent (of the order value). It acts as an on-demand delivery partner for restaurants and other businesses that don’t want to pay the high cut to food delivery aggregators but also don’t have or don’t want to use their own fleet (as managing it could sometimes be even more expensive). The Cairo-headquartered startup works with restaurants using its network of salaried drivers and charges them a fixed fee for every delivered order.

“We help the vendors replace their fleet with our highly trained network of Runners so they don’t have to pay a monthly salary or hire an operations team to manage the delivery of orders. They can use our app or web portal to request a rider as soon as they receive an order and have him deliver the food,” said the startup.

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