Egypt’s first cloud kitchen services operator, The Food Lab (TFL), has secured $4.5 million in a pre-seed funding round aimed at supporting its expansion within the country, Middle Eastern and African region
Egypt’s first cloud kitchen services operator, The Food Lab (TFL), has secured $4.5 million in a pre-seed funding round aimed at supporting its expansion within the country, Middle Eastern and African region.
Providing a range of services, including procurement, cooking, delivery, data-led insights, recommendations, and marketing for restaurants, The Food Lab has already established partnerships with more than 50 local and international brands. These leverage TFL’s platform to grow their presence in Egypt, allowing new brands to launch their operations in the market within 10 days, explained the startup in a statement.
“Restaurants are capital intensive with shrinking margins, which pushes many of them out of business within a year, and our mission is to bridge the gap between restaurants and consumers, as we help restaurants to expand without any capital commitment,” said Kareem El Daly, co-founder, and president of The Food Lab.
“The F&B market in Egypt is extremely fragmented, with an estimated size of $17 billion annually. According to market data, Egyptians spend about 30% of their income on food, and the adoption of new technologies will allow restaurateurs to scale growth rapidly,” said Ahmed Osman, co-founder & CEO of The Food Lab.
The funding round was co-led by Nuwa Capital, Shorooq Partners, and 4DX Ventures. In addition, it also witnessed the participation of other investors, including Saudi-based Al Faisaliah Group and Abdul Majeed Al Hokair, as well as Japan’s Samurai Incubate.
