Kenyan restaurant listing and review site EatOut, has raised Ksh 51.6 Million ($500,000) in funding from Craft Silicon, a kenyan firm biased towards provision of software solutions to companies in the financial services industry.
Set up in 2011 and run by Mikul Shah, EatOut offers a fine-dining experience to all its registered users. Users can search for restaurants based on location, cuisine or budget and get comprehensive information including contact details, menus, maps, opening hours, photos, reviews and much more. Currently, the site covers four countries – Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.
The company earns revenue by charging commission on restaurant table booking via its portal and also by monetising its online traffic through advertisements. The company also runs “Yummy Magazine” a lifestyle magazine focused on food and drink.
The two companies in a joint statement noted that the capital injection will be utilised for product development and expanding EatOut’s footprint into other neighboring countries.
Its worth noting that in July 2016, Craft Silicon with the backing Kenya’s most profitable company, Safaricom, launched a taxi hailing app dubbed Little Ride to take on Uber’s dominance.
The company has operations in 45 countries across the globe with revenues of approximately USD 50 Million according to the CEO Kamal Budhabhatti.
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