EGYPT – Koinz, a restaurant engagement platform, has raised US$4.8 million in a seed round led by Justin Mateen, the founder and former CMO of leading global dating app Tinder,
The round also includes participation of Africa-focused VC 4DX Ventures and angel investors from Egypt, Turkey, and Saudi. According to our data, it is the second-largest seed round raised by a startup in Egypt.
Founded in 2018 by Hussein Momtaz, Ahmed Said, and Abdullah Al Khalidi, Koinz is a customer acquisition and retention platform for restaurants.
Through its suite of products including a consumer app, it enables restaurants to learn insights about their online and offline customer base and offer them rewards to retain them.
Justin Mateen who is also the founder of Tinder, will be joining the board of directors. Along with Peter Orth who is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at 4DX Ventures.
Justin has been actively investing in early-stage companies across the world for years, but it is the first time he has led the funding round of a startup in the Middle East.
“Restaurants in the region are suffering under the traditional aggregator model, especially during the pandemic. Koinz is offering a unique tech platform that goes beyond an aggregator tool and has quickly become a win-win for both consumers and restaurant owners across the Middle East,” Peter Orth, the co-founder and Managing Partner at 4DX Ventures.
“Restaurants can now for the first time ever ‘see’ all of their interactions with consumers across both offline and online touchpoints, which is a huge benefit during the pandemic when in-person visits were limited and therefore customer acquisition would have typically been lost. I think Hussein and his team have the ability to reshape the future of the region’s on-demand food & beverage industry in the coming years.”
Its platform is currently being used by restaurants (over 1,000 outlets) in Egypt, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.
The startup claims that many of its restaurant partners have seen Koinz become one of their top three revenue streams in less than six months of using it. In a statement, it also stated that about 4 million users have earned points on Koinz by ordering at the restaurants that use its services.
The Cairo-headquartered startup currently has over 80 employees working from its offices in Egypt, UAE & Saudi. With the latest funds, it aims to grow the team and expand to more markets in the Middle East.
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