Tech startup activity in Africa has blossomed in recent years. So much so that the continent — with its young and tech savvy population — has begun spawning tech unicorns at a pace that rivals the rest of the world.
Just last year, companies with names like Flutterwave, Andela, OPay, and Wave crossed the billion-dollar threshold.
And typically, whenever a startup sets out to scale up a business is fintech, eCommerce, ride-hailing, and so on, coverage tends to frame it as a company wanting to be the “Blank of Africa”. As in, the “Square of Africa” (see Yoco). Or the “Amazon of Africa” (see Jumia). Or, maybe, the “Uber of Africa”. You get the idea.
Now we’re learning about a newly funded company in Nigeria called Orda that is trying to become the “Toast of Africa.” According to TechCrunch, Orda just raised $1.1 million to scale up its restaurant POS across the African continent. Of course, $1.1 million may seem paltry. But it’s pretty good for a pre-seed round in Africa.
LoftyInc Capital led the pre-seed round. Also chipping in are Techstars Boulder, Magic Fund, Hustle Fund, Norrsken Foundation, Microtraction, DFS Labs, Oxford Seed Fund, Enza Capital, Agrolay Advisors. Plus angel investors such as Buycoins’ Ire Aderinokun, Jesse Ovia and Ademola Adesina.
Orda was founded in 2020 as StarKitchens. It later rebranded as Orda. Its core offering is a tablet-based POS system. The company also offers a platform to handle omnichannel ordering (e.g., from multiple deliery apps), a customizable microsite for restaurants. And finally, Orda provides restaurants with their own branded mobile app.
The company’s founded told TechCrunch that is targeting very small restaurants with its solution.
“There are two kinds of restaurants where the majority of our focus is on — the bukkas [local restaurants] and the small restaurants, for instance,” Orda co-founder and CEO Guy Futi told TechCrunch.
The Toast of…
Orda joins a growing list of players around the world attempting to be the Toast (or Toast killer) in their respective markets. One such company, Brazil’s Zak, received just this framing from TechCrunch when it raised a $15 million Series A in November last year.
Back in the U.S., MarginEdge raised $18 million last year. This company, founded by dining industry veterans, aims to bring Toast-like functionality to indepdendent restaurants. So even as big players like Toast and Lightspeed try to consolidate the market here, new players are popping up to challenge its dominance.
Meanwhile, in the Middle East, Dubai-based Grubtech wants to be a plug-and-play solution for dining entrepreneurs. Its goal is to allow them to offer multiple virtual dining concepts and integrate with multiple delivery aggregators. The company doesn’t just have designs on the MENA region. Grubtech is also targets Africa, Asia, and beyond.
To fuel its ambitions, Grubtech in December raised a $13 million Series A round. The round was led by Addition with BY Ventures and Hambro Perks Oryx Fund also participating.
The Series A round follows the $3.4 million pre-Series A funding round Grubtech raised in March 2021.
GrubTech was launched in 2019 as a platform for restaurant operators to enter the virtual restaurant space without having to build their own technology. It has since expanded into a full-service tech platform for restaurants.
