Last week Menu Group, a UK-registered food delivery startup operating in Armenia, Georgia, and Belarus, announced it was completing of the acquisition Eda.ua, the leader in Ukraine. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The Eda.ua team – currently 40 people – will join Menu Group’s local platform Menu.ua, which will launch this fall, as reported by Ukrainian tech blog AIN.UA.
First launched in Armenia in 2012, Menu Group further expanded to Georgia and Belarus, where it enjoys market leadership. In 2019, the company targets a GMV of $35 million and $10 million in revenue.
Menu Group sees a “high potential” in the Ukrainian market, estimating its growth rate at 20-25% a year. “Demand for food delivery is growing exponentially in Ukraine, powered by the adoption of mobile Internet. Over 60% of the Ukrainian population use mobile Internet and approximately 15-20% of that 25 million place at least one online [food] order each year,” according to Menu Group.
“Local restaurants have a significant incentive to cooperate with food delivery services; currently they generate up to 20% of sales online, with a potential growth of up to 50%.”
$4 million investment plan in Ukraine
Menu Group, which secured $6 million from angels and early stage investors investors so far (including $3 million in 2017), says it is “on track to successfully raising $10 million.” It plans to “launch operations in Kazakhstan and other countries of the region.”
Menu Group also intends to invest “at least 100 million hryvnias” (nearly $4 million) in Ukraine, AIN quoted the group’s founder Vahan Kerobyan as saying.
Founded in 2014, Eda.ua is the market leader in Ukraine with 500,000 users spreading across 29 cities. Initially backed by Chernovetskyi Investment Group (CIG), a Ukrainian investment company, Edua.ua merged in 2017 with Lithuanian Foodout. The new group, dubbed Foodout Group, was valued at “dozens of millions of euros” at that time, according to its shareholders, and received an additional €1 million from CIG in an attempt to become the regional leader.
The deal with Menu Group does not affect Foodout Group’s properties outside Ukraine. The transaction “included a share swap component” for CIG’s share, Menu Group indicated.
Eda.ua generated $5.5 million in GMV in 2018 and “aims to show a 200% growth increase in 2019,” according to its new shareholder Menu Group.
