Orda raises $ 3.4 million seed round to digitise African restaurants

AFRICAN restaurant cloud operating system provider, Orda announced yesterday that it has raised a $ 3.4 million seed round to further digitise food businesses across the continent. The seed round, which was co- led by Quona Capital and Fintech Collective, also saw participation from institutional investors including Far Out Ventures and Outside VC, angels Doneci Kone and Julian Shapiro, and follow- on investment from Norrsken Foundation, Lofty Inc Capital and Enza Capital. Following its previous raise of $ 1.1 million, the current round brings Orda's total funds raised to $ 4.5 million. Founded by Guy Futi, Fikayo Akinwale, Mark Edomwande,

Kunle Ogungbamila, and Namir El- Khouri in 2020, Orda's vision is to help smallsized African restaurants optimise their business and achieve sustainable growth. Speaking on why they backed Orda, Samatha Wulfson of Fintech Collective said: "Digitising the long tail of restaurants across the continent presents an opportunity to tap into Africa's largest consumer spend category. Not only does Orda's omnichannel solution produce immediate efficiency gains for restaurants, but a roadmap encompassing embedded payments and credit also creates a path to tap into the flow of funds throughout an enormous food and beverage industry."

Since its first fundraising announcement in January, Orda has grown its customer base to more than 600 restaurants across Nigeria and Kenya and is now processing over 500 per cent more weekly orders for its customers. This growth, the company says, is due to an obsession with helping small and medium- sized restaurants run their businesses better.

Small independent restaurants are the soul of Africa's food service industry, representing the largest segment of the $ 50 billion industry. However, these restaurants have had limited access to technology solutions tailored to their needs.

Speaking on Orda's focus on small restaurants, Guy Futi, Orda's CEO and co- founder said, "From day one, Orda has been focused on building solutions for small and mediumsized restaurants. These businesses operate with slim profit margins and the power of Orda's software and financial solutions can catapult their business. Our goal is to provide end- to- end solutions that help them optimise their operations so they become more prosperous."

Before Orda, managers at these small restaurants, who often double as cooks, spent as many as four hours a day doing manual reconciliation, inventory management, and other administrative tasks. Now, through its products, Orda is enabling many African restaurants to optimise their business operations and scale distribution.