KSA’s Barakah raises $300K Pre-SEED
Barakah, a start up that aims to tackle food waste in Saudi Arabia, has closed a $300K Pre-SEED round.
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KSA-based food delivery startup, Barakah, has secured $300K in a Pre-SEED round from Alriyadah Investments. Alriyadah Investments is a family-owned closed real estate and energy development fund with headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Barakah aims to harness digital innovation and social awareness to tackle food waste in restaurants, bakeries, hotels and groceries by offering a green discount on their surplus goods through an innovative mobile app in real time. It aims to help businesses drive profit and empowers them and their consumers to join the global movement against food waste.
As recorded in our KSA H1 2022 Venture Investment Report, KSA has observed healthy Early-Stage dynamics with the lion’s share of transactions over H1 2022 closing in the $1M-$5M bracket size, accounting for over 50% of total deals in the Kingdom. On the other hand, deals less than $1M have been on a consecutive decline since 2019 accounting for 25% of the total transactions recorded this year. An interesting shift has been the F&B sector coming on top as the highest funded industry in KSA surpassing EVM’s top industry, FinTech. This shift was driven by Foodics’ $170M Series C round which accounted for over 80% of the total funding aggregated by the sector in KSA.
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The company shared that their motivation for starting Barakah was centered around sustainability and tackling the global and systemic issue of food waste in their own backyard. 40% of all food is wasted, in monetary terms, this amounts to $1.2Trn globally and SAR 40Bn in Saudi, representing 10% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. The Islamic teachings were another major influence on the initiative, as they instilled the importance of preserving food. The word "Barakah" means blessing in Arabic.
Barakah wants to utilize technology to address a meaningful socio-economic issue where there is a clear gap in the market. That gap is creating the first discounted surplus marketplace in Saudi Arabia. The startup targets both businesses and consumers - for businesses they work with restaurants, bakeries, cafes, hotels, buffets, and grocery stores to put their surplus on the map. Generating an untapped source of revenue for our vendors. For consumers, the app appeals to value discerning and eco-conscious customers.
The app introduces a real-time surplus management platform for businesses in the food service industry. Restaurants list their unsold meals on Barakah’s surplus marketplace where consumers can easily explore the map and find nearby discounted meals from their favorite shops, saving these items from going to waste.
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