UAE-based foodtech ChatFood, has announced a bridge round of $3 million led by Antler with a reserved amount for key strategic Saudi partners. Other participants in the round include family offices such as 6G Capital and existing investors such as Guillaume Pousaz’s Zinal Growth. This brings ChatFood’s funding to date to $7 million after last year’s seed round led by leading regional VC funds BECO & Wamda Capital. 

Founded in 2019 by Benjamin Mouflard and Vinicius Rodrigues, ChatFood is an omnichannel ordering and data-driven marketing platform that aims to help hospitality businesses regain control of their relationship with customers and start selling online. It has built a mobile ordering solution to enable restaurants to sell from Instagram and WhatsApp.

ChatFood’s co-founder and CEO, Benjamin Mouflard, shares, “We are looking forward to providing our services in Saudi Arabia as the market is set to witness phenomenal growth within the next four years, further strengthening ChatFood’s leading position in the GCC”

The funds will be primarily applied towards setting up operations in Saudi Arabia, where the market is expected to reach over $25 billion by 2026, as well as product development with the aim to unlock further efficiencies for restaurants, bars, hotels, and entertainment venues.  

ChatFood has already empowered over 3,000 hospitality venues across the Middle East to drive more than $100 million in sales and convert more than 1 million visitors into direct customers, growing at an impressive 260% YoY. ChatFood’s newly launched NFC/QR ordering system has been able to deliver outstanding results for its partners: 35% higher average spend, 3x more tips, and 25% more labour efficiency. This has allowed ChatFood to unlock revenue and margins at a time of surging food costs, labour shortages, and increasing commissions for hospitality venues. 

Christopher Dix, Global Capital Director and Head of MENAP at Antler, said: “We believe Ben and an exceptional ChatFood team are building a ubiquitous digital solution across the F&B value chain. Creating a single platform that combines digital ordering, payments, logistics, analytics, and marketing offers up an invaluable proposition.”

Further commenting, Christopher Dix said “ChatFood at its core enables F&B and hospitality operators to improve margins and run their venues more efficiently, whilst also ensuring an optimal customer experience – a mutualistic solution across the board. We believe ChatFood is the right team to build the leading omnichannel ordering and payments solution and look forward to helping them cement their MENAP leadership position against an exciting and ever-evolving regional backdrop.”

- Ad -