• Egypt-based food discovery and ordering platform elmenus has raised $10 million in pre-Series C, led by digital payments company Fawry, with participation from Marakez, and  New York-based hedge fund, Luxor Capital.

• Founded in 2011 by Amir Allam, elmenus offers users the chance to discover restaurants in Egypt with the aim to personalise food recommendations on the dish level. It pivoted to become a food delivery platform a few years ago and now claims over 1.5 million users visit its platform every month.

• elmenus and Fawry will co-develop innovative solutions for restaurants and customers.

• elmenus raised a $1.5 million Series A investment, and $8 million in 2017 a Series B round in 2020 as well as investment from David Buttress, the former CEO of global food ordering firm, JustEat, who sits on the board.

• By the end of 2021, elmenus expects to empower 12,000 restaurants with new data and tool offerings to help them scale their businesses.

Press release:

elmenus, Egypt’s biggest food discovery and ordering platform, has secured new funding from three new investors, based in the Mena region and North America.

Fawry Group - the renowned digital transformation and e-payment platform – is leading the investment from Egypt. The investment follows Fawry’s new strategy to take minority stakes in fast-growing, Egyptian, technology businesses. As well as investing, Fawry will work closely with elmenus to develop innovative solutions to benefit restaurants and consumers. Also investing is Marakez - a leading Egyptian real estate developer. 

Ashraf Sabry, CEO of Fawry, said: “Fawry is looking forward to its journey with elmenus, working closely with the executive team and entering many ventures together.  By this investment, we show our desire to not only be a payment catalyst but to be a strategic partner to elmenus, its customers, restaurants and its riders. The Egyptian food space has high growth potential, with technology disrupting the status quo, as customers’ needs in food service provision rapidly change.”

From North America, investment has also been received from New York-based hedge fund, Luxor Capital Group, which has $11 billion of assets under management. elmenus is its first investment in the Mena region - a testament to elmenus’ growth track record and market opportunity in Egypt. Luxor has a long history of successfully investing in food technology companies around the world.

Amir Allam, CEO of elmenus, commented: “Attracting new investment from Fawry, Luxor Capital and Marakez - following the endorsement of industry veteran, David Buttress, earlier this year - validates elmenus’ unique strategy. We are accelerating the adoption of online ordering by users, while enabling restaurants with new verticals - to help them scale. This funding demonstrates the investors’ strong belief in our position in Egypt, and our capability to dominate the market.”

elmenus - which now has over 1.5 million monthly users - is the most comprehensive platform for restaurant information and food discovery in Egypt, and its aim is to personalise food recommendations at a dish level.

elmenus continues to expand rapidly, and today’s announcement follows the investment and board appointment of David Buttress - the former CEO of global food ordering firm, JustEat - announced earlier this year.

By the end of 2021, elmenus expects to empower 12,000 restaurants with new data and tool offerings to help them scale their businesses, across 20 Egyptian cities. Its cutting-edge digital solutions will also drive its existing database of several million users, to switch to online ordering.