Appetito, an Egyptian food tech startup and Saudi-Arabia food tech, Jumlaty, have announced their merger into a new entity, NOMU with the aim of becoming Mena’s leading food-tech supply chain platform.
NOMU is present in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco, with the capacity to cover the existing infrastructure of 25 million people and 100,000 F&B stores including strategic partners such as Savola, Almarai and Nestle.
“Appetito and Jumlaty have worked separately but similarly hard to reinvent the grocery supply chain. Both have focused on reliability, speed, and affordability, building a solid reputation and a loyal customer base of families and F&B businesses. Our merger will set us on the path to reaching $25 million) and positive EBITDA within 2023, with important synergies on the tech, marketing and procurement fronts.” commented Shehab Mokhtar, CEO of Appetito, now CEO of NOMU.
A shared mindset and direction facilitated the deal, as Salman Attieh, CEO of Jumlaty, now Chairman of NOMU, stated, “Both companies shared the same vision on how to transform the industry, combining smart tech, lean operations with a deep focus on unit economics. Together we capture the entire value chain, from monthly shopping to weekly refills and outdoor dining. Most importantly our journey now as one company will be accelerated thanks to an incredible team of international talents and supportive investors.”
Ahmed Demerdash, COO of Appetito, who continues as COO of NOMU comments on the impressive potential of the merger, “Our new entity is now present in four promising countries, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco, with a smart grid of 16 warehouses, and a capacity to cover the existing infrastructure of 25 million people and 100,000 F&B stores, and delivery promises that range from one hour to next day fulfilment”.
Speaking on the growth of the company and ambitions to achieve in the coming months, Yassir El Ismaili El Idrissi, Chief Growth and Expansion Officer at Appetito, and now at NOMU, shares, “We are redeploying our tech talent towards advanced AI-based algorithms covering smart pricing, predictive demand planning and LTV optimisation, and new community-oriented features including group buying, loyalty and embedded finance. On the marketing front, we will keep local brands where it makes sense and all our apps in all our countries will use a common tech and growth platform.”
NOMU will have its headquarters in Riyadh, with a holding structure in Abu Dhabi’s International Financial Centre, ideally placed to develop its operations further, with ambitions to cover Pakistan and key sub-Saharan countries in the near future.
