Ollin Ventures’ Post

🚀Startups you need to know - a series by Build It Up to enrich your entrepreneurial knowledge What is Too Good To Go? “Too Good To Go is a community of Waste Warriors fighting food waste together”, this is how the business defines itself. Too Good To Go is a service that connects customers to restaurants, stores, hotels, and supermarkets that have unsold food, through a mobile application.  The download of the application is free for buyers, while restaurants and food stores just have to pay a moderate annual fee and a commission for each bag sold.  The purpose of the app is to reduce food waste worldwide by offering users the opportunity to buy surplus food that would otherwise be discarded at the end of the day. As we are talking about food excesses or food near its expiration date, it is sold at discounted prices, usually at ⅓ of its original price.  This practice is convenient for both parties that participate in the exchange: the customer has the opportunity to buy food at very low prices, while the vendor can sell food that otherwise would be wasted.  Even though the final selling price of the products is much lower than the original one, the food business still benefits from the sale; in fact, thanks to this method the vendor can for sure cover at least the goods acquisition price.    How does it work?    Everyday food outlets notify Too Good To Go company about the availability of their goods. They can then publish on the mobile application “Surprise bags” available for sale that customers can buy according to their needs. In fact, the specific content of the goods contained in the bag is not known, but the buyer can choose the size of the “Magic bag” and obviously from which restaurant he wants to buy. To Good To Go helps clients to make their choice by providing them with previous clients' reviews about the restaurants and with restaurants’ location: the app provides a list of food outlets available within a certain distance from the customer position and a certain time range.     Once the order is placed and the payment is completed, customers pick up their orders at the restaurant chosen and at the time scheduled. The pick-up time window is usually open between 30 and 60 minutes. In case the bag ordered is not available anymore due to surplus food shortage, food outlets can cancel it at any time and the client will be immediately notified through the app. At the same time, the purchaser can cancel his own order within 2 hours from the pickup time scheduled.    Finally, when the order is ready to be delivered, the transaction must be finalized through the mobile app at the food outlet.  The purchaser is later invented to provide a review of the restaurant in order to support it, and increase its visibility and to help future customers make their choices.

Blink Co Technologies Secures $2.1M Seed Funding, Transforming the Restaurant Industry. The startup announced the successful conclusion of a $2.1 million Seed funding round, with support pouring in from investors like 500 Global andGlobal Founders Capital, alongside our steadfast partners at Orbit Startup/SOSV. Blink empowers restaurants to boost profit margins and break free from delivery aggregator dependence by establishing their direct online ordering channels. Last year, the company processed a 4.5 million orders for our partner restaurants, achieving an Annual Recurring Revenue exceeding $0.5 million. #BlinkRevolution #SeedFundingSuccess #RestaurantInnovation #TechTransformation #InvestmentNews #StartupJourneya #EmpoweringRestaurants #DigitalOrdering #ProfitBoost #TechInnovation #GlobalFoundersCapital #OrbitStartup #SOSV #FundingMilestone #DigitalTransformation #FutureOfDining #RestaurantTech #MENAPRegion #BusinessGrowth #InnovativeStartups #EntrepreneurshipJourney #BreakingBoundaries #DeliveryAggregator #OnlineOrderingSolution #SMEsInTech #TechStartupWin #DigitalCommerce #TransformativeTech #InvestInInnovation

Tech for small businesses is where it's at! Check out this article about Owner.com by Allie Garfinkle. It goes into why some of the largest markets (like mom-and-pop owned restaurants) have been ignored by tech and what companies like Owner.com are doing to help. #startups #productmanager #smallbusiness #technology Fortune article below 👇

5 ways restaurants should act like startups @daily @startups @venturecapital @skzites

One of the area where digitization makes things extremely inconvenient is #digitizing the menu card of a #restaurant.The restaurant digitises the menu but dont end up having wifi & also do not realise that they should ensure that people use less of phone & interact more with each other, enjoy the ambience, food & the company around them..Extremely annoying to start the experience with scanning the bar code and then checking the menu on the phone.. #food #digital #menu #digitalmenu #startups

In the spring, I sold my delivery company OrangeCrate, which I started back in October 2015. My partner and I grew that company from our one local rural town to 40 cities in just three years, which really surged during the pandemic. A few months later, my partners and I sold Nimble Deliveries (Acquired by dlivrd.io) and I came on as part of dlivrd’s day to day operations team. We grew Nimble in just under 2 years to over 80 cities, and with dlivrd, our combined enterprise is growing exponentially. A month before the pandemic hit, my partner from OrangeCrate and I bought a restaurant and mostly let it run on autopilot. It made pizza and pasta, and we survived the pandemic by making pizza kits and doing deliveries. I came to love the restaurant; my partner hated it. I bought him out in July of last year. For those that follow me, I’ve shared the journey, the ups and the downs, and even the shut down (just ten days) of the restaurant journey. I’ve bought, tried, tested and tossed more tech in the last 12 months to automate this pizzeria and give it a digital footprint than many restaurants do in a lifetime. This week, I’m putting the focus on pizza and robots, stepping down from the management team at dlivrd. I’ll still advise them on strategy, but my forte is growing market share, and it’s starting with Mamma Ramona's. I’ve signed a lease for our second location in Oceanside, our third location at SDSU gets signed later this week and assuming a positive walkthrough, I’ll sign a lease in Philly for the fourth location. I’m eyeing Tempe, Austin, San Francisco and Denver for the next four locations in 1st quarter 2024. The end goal is 25 locations by the end of 2024. I’m also building out a small team to help me get there; I can’t do this alone. But, I’m excited for what this adventure has in store for me for the future, and I’ll continue to share the good, the bad and the ugly in my posts. Follow me through my unique pizza rev share subscription at pizzaRoboto.io - 2 to 4 pennies on every pizza we sell, by store, for one year. Your subscriptions fund my expansion, and I appreciate all of you who have joined in on this journey! Clayton Wood Shawn P. Walchef Marsha Edmands Florian Pestoni Atul Sood Sterling Douglass Gary Campbell Salman Habib Jake Orfinger David Lory 🍕 Michael V. Jimmy Frischling Carl Orsbourn Jared Pfeifer Angela Diffly Jay Udrija Michael “schatzy” Schatzberg #subscriptioneconomy #automation #pizza #robotics

💡Fictional startup: ㅤㅤㅤ – Name and Claim: ✅ FrothyPods – Revolutionizing your brew experience! – Vision: ✅ In five years, we see FrothyPods as a global household name, renowned for delivering high-quality at-home brewing experiences. We aspire to have a significant market share and presence in every continent, catering to millions of coffee and beer enthusiasts. – Business Idea: ✅ FrothyPods develops and markets unique brewing pods for coffee and craft beer enthusiasts. Through our single-serve, customizable pods, customers can brew beverages of their choice at home. We generate revenue through the direct sale of these pods, which are craftsman curated and adapt to a variety of tastes and brewing preferences. – Mission: ✅ Our mission at FrothyPods is to provide unique, personalized, high-quality brewing experiences, offering our customers the flexibility to enjoy their favorite beverages anytime, anywhere. – Sales & Marketing: ✅ Our primary customers are coffee and beer enthusiasts. We reach our customers through targeted digital marketing, partnerships with existing beverage platforms, and influencer marketing. The planned road to scale involves eCommerce consolidation and extending our reach into brick-and-mortar retailers. – Differentiation: ✅ Besides the sheer novelty of our all-in-one craft beer brewing pods, FrothyPods is distinct due to our advanced brewing technology and emphasis on high-quality ingredients. Our unique tech and ingredients help us maintain a competitive edge in the market. – Founding team: ✅ Our founding team consists of seasoned entrepreneurs, experienced craft brewers, and marketing strategists, each bringing relevant skills and deep industry insight. Their combined power makes FrothyPods’ birth and growth possible. – Capital Requirement: ✅ FrothyPods is seeking an initial $1M seed investment to scale up production, strengthen distribution channels, and ramp up marketing efforts. Given the uniqueness of our offering and significant customer interest, bootstrapping isn’t an efficient option. – Financial Projections: ✅ In year one, we aim to achieve $5M in revenue using direct to consumer sales. By year three, we expect a rise to $15M, and year five projections put us at $50M revenue, with a profitability margin hovering around 25%. #StartUp #VentureCapital #CraftBeer #AtHomeBrewing #BeverageIndustry #Innovation #FrothyPods

#Lastapp, located in #Barcelona, raises €5 million in #funding. With participation from current #investors All Iron and Bynd, the pan-European venture capital firm Nauta Capital led this round. #European restaurant owners’ lives are being changed by Last.app. Its special paradigm for an #operating system for #restaurants is made to interface with any kind of hardware and software, making it simple and quick for any kind of restaurant to get up and #running. Last.app achieved #distinction and high customer #satisfaction by providing a solution that can be #tailored to meet the particular requirements of individual businesses, as shown by it #impressive and diverse clientele, which includes small-scale dining places, huge #restaurant chains, and delivery services. Iván and Eric Nikolic founded Last.app in 2019 to fill a #significant void in the #hospitality industry. In the past, restaurants required updating their systems or employ a wide range of apps to adjust to #changing client needs. Last.app All Iron Ventures Nauta Capital Ivan Nikolic Fraguela Eric Nikolic To share your startup story write us on - [email protected] #lastapp #funding #eustartup

From shutting down his chain of restaurants to building ₹1000 crore company— Veeba’s founder Viraj Bahl has done it all! 📍 Early days: - Viraj’s parents were the founders of Fun Foods which was acquired by German multinational Dr. Oetker for ₹110 crore in 2008. - Although, Viraj requested his parents not to sell the company, the deal was too good to turn down… ultimately, leading to the sale of the company. - Post this acquisition, because of a non-compete clause Viraj couldn’t enter the food processing business— he had to wait for at least 4 years. - This restriction led him to a different type of food business: Pocket Full - a chain of restaurants that Viraj started. 📍Veeba’s rise against the odds: - Due to the unfortunate failure of Pocket Full in 2013, Viraj moved on to his next venture: Veeba. - To start Veeba— Viraj took a risky gambit and sold his house. - With the money, he bought a plot in Neemrana, Rajasthan. - From the early days, Viraj’s vision was clear with Veeba: 1️⃣ Veeba will be a professional organization with no family connection. 2️⃣ Veeba will focus on the B2B route to save the company from the domestic retail heat and foreign rivals. 3️⃣ Niche-based focus (Sauce & Condiments) for quicker penetration and growth. - Within the first six months, the acquired plot was converted into a factory, people were hired. - Viraj used to spend hours at the offices of QSRs (quick service restaurants) to crack a deal. But he failed due to the low demand. - Fortunately, his luck began turning when Deepak Shahdadpuri of DSG Consumer Partners (an early-stage venture capital firm) made a bet on Veeba. - The money was enough for Viraj to start changing Veeba’s fortunes! In only three months since, Viraj had a lot more on his plate than he could handle. - Bahl got an order of 70 tonnes of supply from Domino’s, which was followed by Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, KFC, and other QSR outlets placing orders. - Veeba’s story progressed over the next few months, but a year later, it started to lose momentum again. - In 2015, Deepak again invested $1 million in Veeba and from there onwards Veeba has never looked back. - Today, it is on its way to become a ₹1000 crore company in FY24. 📍Some interesting facts: - Despite the initial direction it took, only 8% of Veeba’s revenue comes from B2B space and the rest from retail space. - Veeba has a presence across 700 cities, a distribution network of 1.5 lakh retail points, and over 80 stock-keeping units (SKUs) spread across 14 categories. - While the top sellers include eggless mayonnaise, chef special tomato ketchup, tandoori mayonnaise, garlic mayonnaise and schezwan chili chutney, the company recently rolled out cooking sauces and 'Woktok' range of masala Chinese for the Indian palate.  Did you know about Veeba? Have you tried their sauces?