Egyptian Food Platform Yumamia Raises $200,000 from Faden Media and Publicis Group

Egyptian homemade food startup Yumamia has just raised a $200,000 investment round from Saudi-based Faden Media along with French multinational Publicis Group - an investment that ups their total investment so far raised to $1.2 million. The startup is raising another $1.8 million, aiming to total $2 million for this Series A investment.

The peer-to-peer foodie app has been making waves since its launch in 2014 and initially provided home-made food, but it has shifted its model to offer a premium service. "We are partnering with chefs and F&B establishments in order to get premium food, and to improve consistency; we have an application with a daily changing menu, where customers can place an order in two steps and get their order in 60 minutes,” co-founder Belal El Borno tells Startup Scene.

With a focus on healthy wholesome food, the startup has been reaping multiple awards; last year, it was awarded the prestigious Publicis90 Global Startup Competition Silver Award, out of 3,500 other digital startups from 141 countries worldwide and its founder, El Borno, was selected as one of CairoScene’s 16 most influential people of 2016.

The startup sets off to expand regionally into Saudi Arabia and the UAE, kicking off in Riyadh and Jeddah next year. “With a strong presence in Saudi Arabia, Faden Media is the ideal partner as we continue to scale our business regionally,” said El Borno. “We’re excited to have a partner on board that provides us not only capital, but also strategic & local experience in KSA market.”

The investment comes just as one of its biggest competitors, Mumm, closed a seed investment from 500 startups earlier in July, after yet another Egyptian food startup, ElMenus.com, raised a whopping $1.5 million in the previous month.

Main photo by @MO4Network's #MO4Productions.

Photographer: Ahmed Najeeb.