Saudi Arabia-based healthy food delivery app DailyMealz has raised SAR 20 million ($5 million) in a pre-Series A round.
Saudi Airlines Catering, Hala Ventures, MLM investment company, VEDA Holding, Sendra Ventures, and some angel investors led this round. The newly-acquired funds will accelerate business expansion in product features and geographical footprint.
Daily Meals was founded in 2017 by Mohamed Elzalabany, Abdulrahman Ahmed, Abdallah Said, and Motaz AbuOnq. It allows its users to order healthy meals suitable for their dietary requirements using weekly or monthly subscription packages through its app for iOS and Android.
The KSA-based startup partners with different restaurants and cloud kitchens to offer their food as part of its meal plans. To receive the meals to their offices or homes without placing an order every time they need it, the users can choose different subscriptions, including healthy, diet, Keto, and fast food, in a few taps. The food is delivered by its network of freelance drivers.
As recorded in the 2022 Emerging Venture Markets Report, the Food & Beverage industry in the MENA region saw a 201% YoY growth in 2021, primarily driven by UAE’s cloud kitchen platform Kitopi’s mega-round worth $415M.
In 2021, the mega-round accounted for 70% of capital deployed into the Food & Beverage industry and 16% deployed across MENA. Over in KSA, the F&B sector observed a slight 5% YoY dip in capital investment over 2021, but several F&B ventures raised funds to disrupt the industry, including Siwar’s $7.5M Series A round and n.go’s $1.8M.
The company has built in-house fleet management technology to ensure maximum utilization of drivers who deliver multiple orders on every trip. The grouped deliveries result in much better economics for Dailymealz when compared with traditional food delivery players who offer on-demand delivery.
The KSA-based F&B startup will be utilizing its newly acquired funds to support its growth efforts by introducing new products and expanding geographically.
