Nigerian restaurant management startup, raises $1.1m in pre-seed funding

Orda, a Nigerian food-tech startup, defines itself as a “cloud-based restaurant operating system created for African chefs and food business owners” announced today, January 18th, 2021, that it has received $1.1 million in a new fundraiser to help it scale its business and expand its operations across the continent. 

LoftyInc Capital, a pan-African investor, led the round for the startup, with Techstars Boulder, Magic Fund, Hustle Fund, Norrsken Foundation, Microtraction, DFS Labs, Oxford Seed Fund, Enza Capital, Agrolay Advisors, and angel investors such as Buycoins’ Ire Aderinokun, Jesse Ovia, and Ademola Adesina being among the other institutional investors.

The tech startup focuses mostly on local and small restaurants that lack access to analytics and inventory management software. The startup claims that restaurants that use its platform have access to a dashboard that allows them to take and process orders from meal delivery services such as Jumia Food, Glovo, and Bolt Food, as well as in-store, online, and through social media channels like WhatsApp. While large restaurants and restaurant chains can typically set up management systems or use well-known point-of-sale providers, hundreds of smaller eateries in Africa rely on offline methods like pen and paper to manage their operations. 

Furthermore, it provides an ePOS solution that allows restaurants to operate in rural places with limited or no internet access. LoftyInc Capital Management managing partner Idris Ayodeji Bello said his firm invested in Orda because it was developing the core digital platform for restaurants across Africa.

“The team has worked hard to identify the main issues that African restaurant owners face and is developing a solution that has the potential to revolutionize the culinary industry on the continent.” “Orda is a solution-focused team, and LoftyInc is eager to support them,” – Idris Ayodeji Bello

Orda’s chief executive officer, Guy Futi, stated that “Orda was developed over the course of nearly 18 months through a collaborative consumer feedback loop. “We listened to everything,” he explained, “from how African restaurants balance inventory to how consumers pay to how they handle logistics.” The majority of our attention is focused on two types of restaurants: bukkas [local restaurants] and small restaurants, for example.”

These are the restaurants that have been reconciling using paper and ink and have spent three to four hours doing it.” They don’t have immediate access to software that does analytics and inventory management. As a result, we decided to create a cloud-based restaurant software that is specifically designed for Africa’s enormous chefs and restaurant business.” He further claimed no other company in its space has made similar integrations, adding that it has a competitive advantage in the market because of these connections, which include an electronic point of sale (ePos) solution that allows restaurants to operate in rural places with limited or no internet access. 

When asked how receptive restaurants have been to the firm, Futi stated that restaurant adoption has been “extremely effortless” in the markets where it operates (Nigeria and Kenya), and that the cloud-based software doubles its growth rate every three weeks. Orda plans to expand its financial products, particularly in loans, and move into restaurant payment processing, the CEO stated, after closing its pre-seed investment and moving toward raising a seed round.

Orda is following in the footsteps of companies like Toast, which saw explosive growth after launching fintech technology solutions in the United States. “We want to be the Toast of Africa,” the CEO said, adding that Orda would expand its white-label mobile apps (similar to Toast Takeout) for eateries using its cloud-based infrastructure.

Things to know about ORDA

Guy Futi (CEO), Adinlewa “Fikayo” Akinwale (CTO), Mark Edomwande, Kunle Ogungbamila, and Namir El-Khouri started the company in 2020. It is an electronic point of sale (ePOS) and restaurant management system that allows food industry owners to manage all of their operations from a single location. Futi, who was the former Managing Director of Jumia Foods, became familiar with Nigerian eateries and their management issues. This could explain why Orda introduced credit services on its platform, a service that he claims has had positive feedback.

The company is based in Nigeria, but it also has a presence in Kenya. It now boasts a weekly transaction volume of 10,000. It makes money by charging fees to its customers. Restaurants that use Orda pay a monthly fee ranging from $5 (N2,500) to $50 (N30,000). Its platform may accept orders from third-party apps such as Jumia Foods and social networking apps, as well as dine-in orders. It oversees these activities and provides customers with essential data to assist them in making critical business decisions that will help them expand their enterprises.

Orda provides restaurants with a lightweight website, mobile app, and inventory management system in addition to managing all restaurant operations. It ties offline and online sales to inventories and offers information on when a restaurant’s supplies are running low. Since its inception, the Lagos-based company has collaborated with a variety of well-known African and international restaurants, including Barcelos, Eric Kayser, Johnny Rockets, and Ofadaboy.

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