Bamboo App rescued from closure by group of its original investors

BAMBOO, an Irish food-ordering app which had liquidators appointed in early May, has been saved following a buyout organised by a group of its original investors.

Mahalo, the company behind the app, was co-founded by Luke Mackey and Alan Haverty, who launched the Bamboo app in 2018. It was designed to allow professional people to get meals from around 150 restaurants in Galway, Dublin and Cork, located near their place of work.

Bamboo fell into difficulty in April when many of its partners were forced to close and a “financial event” fell through. During the restructuring period, a group of the original investors, led by Andrew Connolly — the managing director of Morgan McKinley’s Toronto Office — acquired the app. The deal was completed last week, while figures were not disclosed.

Speaking with the Sunday Independent, Connolly, whose role is advisory, said that the company had been about to launch a new self-service product called Serve when the pandemic hit.

“There was a major downturn, and we didn’t know how people would react,” he said, “We didn’t know where we fitted in the new world.

“I spoke with Luke, and we talked about the opportunity [to save the app]. It all came from our customers who as they came back were reaching out and wanting to use our technology.”

With the acquisition going through on Tuesday, Connolly is speaking to more investors. The business hopes to raise further money soon, he added, provided it is with the right people.

Bamboo has plans to hire, and is in talks with pubs to see how its software can help them. It has managed to win back many former clients, including Dublin burrito chain Tolteca and On the Go Coffee in Buncrana, Co Donegal.