500 Startups-backed F&B solution provider bags $4m in series A round from Go-Ventures, SIG

Food Market Hub, a Malaysia-based procurement and inventory management platform for the food and beverage (F&B) industry, announced that it has raised US$4 million in a series A round from Go-Ventures and US-based investment firm SIG.

Photo credit: Food Market Hub

Launched in 2017 by Anthony See and Shayna Teh, Food Market Hub automates the purchasing and inventory-tracking process by connecting F&B outlets with their central kitchens and suppliers. Orders can be placed via the system and by using email or WhatsApp, depending on the customer’s preference.

The company operates a cloud-based system to help manage and keep track of sourcing, food procurement, costs, inventory, and operational tasks.

It also leverages artificial intelligence to help F&B businesses forecast their purchasing needs by analyzing past data and recommending the usage of raw ingredients to help manage food inventory.

“A single restaurant may need to process some 200 purchase orders every month. Previously, most of this was done manually, making it tedious as well as prone to human error. And when a restaurant grows or becomes a franchise using a central kitchen, the complexity increases exponentially,” Food Market Hub co-founder Anthony See pointed out.

The company currently supports over 2,000 F&B outlets in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Its customers include Din Tai Fung, KFC, Putien, Paul Lafayet, Arabica, and The Drunken Pot.

It plans to use the new funds to further develop its operations in Malaysia and expand into Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The company claims that F&B customers have continued to pay for the system and input over 90% of their orders into the solution even during the pandemic.

According to Crunchbase, the company secured US$450,000 in a seed round from 500 Startups last year.