Billed as the first mobile app in the country’s food-tech industry to specialise in table and meal reservations, the Egyptian start-up Bonbell has closed an initial funding round for $350 000 through a Canadian angel investor. This will boost further development of app services and grow daily users. The start-up is also seeking a further $10 million in seed funding.
Bonbell launched its own app earlier this year to offer a wide range of food ordering services in Egypt. It offers many food ordering solutions – from food delivery to restaurant reservations and dine-in ordering through a QR code on tables, as well as take-away services. Various payment solutions are also offered.
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Many restaurants, cafes and clubs are already partnering with Bonbell, including Heliopolis Club and Smash Club. It also offers its services in malls and cinemas boasting “a smoother food ordering experience.”
According to Doaa Abdel-Hameed, chief business officer of Bonbell, the start-up has furthermore strategically partnered with many leading major companies and institutions. This includes the German University in Cairo (GUC), and Raya Telecom, in order to offer its services in their respective headquarters for employees and visitors alike.
Bonbell hopes to partner with at least 750 restaurants by the end of 2022. The company is also negotiating with two venture capital funds from Europe and the Gulf, to close a $10 million fund in its seed round by the end of the year.
Abdel-Hameed says, “We aim to help restaurants in offering an easier food ordering experience to their customers, either through food delivery or reserving a table in the restaurant, as well as take away orders and also the special orders made by customers in their restaurants.”
“We pursue a better experience for the Egyptian user in food ordering. We see a lot of potential and opportunities to do that through developing the app constantly based on the user reviews, adding more restaurants in all of the Egyptian governorates.”
Bonbell has already earned the trust of more than 12 000 customers who used the app in food ordering in all the ways offered through the app in just six months.
Doaa Abdel-Hameed emphasises that the success of Bonbell app lies in inventive solutions to the Egyptian user such as a robotic stations service. This offers customers the experience of food ordering and serving through a robot, without any human intervention.
This service is expected to launch in Egypt by the end of 2023.
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