Food Market Hub raises US$ 4 million in Series A, to expand across Southeast Asia

Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, 17 November 2020 – Food Market Hub, a procurement and inventory management platform for the F&B industry, today announced it has successfully raised its Series A funding round of US$ 4 million from Go-Ventures and SIG. Food Market Hub plan to use this funding to strengthen its market leading position in Malaysia and rapidly expand into Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

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Food Market Hub was set up in 2017, by Anthony See and Shayna Teh, who previously managed several cafes, which were forced to shut down, due to food costs spiraling out of control. Realising this was a common problem amongst F&B businesses, they decided to develop a cloud-based platform to help F&B operators manage and track procurement and inventory. This solution automates the purchasing and inventory-tracking process, by connecting F&B outlets with their central kitchens and suppliers. Orders can be placed quickly and easily via the system, or by using email/ WhatsApp according to the customers’ preference, allowing restaurants to operate seamlessly and immediately.

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Food Market Hub’s solution consists of:

• Cloud-based procurement and inventory system – this manages and keeps track of sourcing, food procurement, costs, inventory and operational tasks easily and seamlessly.
• AI technology – Food Market Hub helps F&B businesses forecast their purchasing needs. Its AI technology is able to analyse past data to recommend usage of raw ingredients, resulting in better food inventory control.
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“A single restaurant may need to process some 200 purchase orders every month. Previously, most of this was done manually, making it tedious as well as prone to human error. And when a restaurant grows or becomes a franchise using a central kitchen, complexity increases exponentially. Having run F&B outlets previously, I know the pain points involved and we set up Food Market Hub to address this problem,” said Anthony See, Co-founder Food Market Hub.

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Food Market Hub currently supports over 2,000 F&B outlets, which are operating in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and place close to US$200 million in purchase orders through its system on an annual basis. Existing customers include F&B outlets such as Din Tai Fung, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Putien, Paul Lafayet, Arabica and The Drunken Pot. Food Market Hub has had almost zero churn, outside restaurant closures. Despite the challenges facing the F&B sector customers have continued to pay for the system and input over 90% of their orders into the solution. Food Market Hub aims to rapidly expand its presence into Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

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“Technology has the ability to revolutionize the F&B sector, which has been badly hit by the pandemic. We are most impressed by the team at Food Market Hub, which has deep industry expertise and has demonstrated that the F&B industry can benefit greatly from AI, analytical technology and automation. Go-Ventures will facilitate partnerships, to help Food Market Hub to rapidly expand in Indonesia as well as regionally,” said Nigel Quah, Investment Professional at Go-Ventures

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About Food Market Hub

Food market Hub is a big data cloud-based purchasing and inventory solution specifically designed for the Food & Beverage industry. We use Big Data and AI to improve restaurant procurement and reduce food cost. https://foodmarkethub.com

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About Go-Ventures

Go-Ventures is a venture capital fund that aims to invest in early stage companies with demonstrated traction in their target markets. It aims to support, promote and expand technology ecosystems and in turn improve the lives of citizens in emerging markets. The fund is backed by a number of notable private equity firms, venture capital firms, global technology businesses, regional conglomerates, and highly regarded technopreneurs. The funds’ cornerstone investor is Gojek, Indonesia’s leading technology company.

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About SIG

SIG is a global quantitative trading and investment firm founded in 1987 with an entrepreneurial mindset and a rigorous analytical approach to decision making. SIG is headquartered in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, USA and has operations across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

SIG began investing in Asia venture capital in 2005 with an initial focus on China before expanding to South East Asia, Japan and India. SIG invests across the continuum of the venture capital life-cycle, from early to late stage and in a variety of industry sectors.  SIG SE Asia is particularly focused on the adaption of business models across countries and regions, and makes extensive use of its employees and portfolio companies to provide insights and assistance to founders. Over the last 15 years, SIG has invested in over 250 companies, deployed over US$2b in capital, and achieved IPO/M&A exits in over 60 companies in Asia.

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