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Monday, 1 March 2021

Look out, Talabat and Elmenus. Jumia has come out to play

Jumia looks to capitalize on Uber Eats’ Egypt exit: Jumia is planning to expand its food delivery service Jumia Food in Egypt as part of the company’s Africa expansion, co-CEO Sacha Poignonnec tells Bloomberg this morning. Jumia is bullish on food delivery services in Egypt where there is a gap in the market following the exit of Uber Eats from the Middle East in 2020 he added. The company has so far added chain restaurants such as McDonalds and Burger King, to Jumia Food Egypt, with more to come, the CEO said.

This comes as food becomes a growing line of business: Food currently makes up 20% of overall transactions on the platform and is growing quickly, Poignonnec said, adding that Jumia completed 5 mn online food orders in 2020 in markets such as Morocco.

Food delivery is a hot business now in Egypt and the world: Last year alone saw Otlob get bought by Delivery Hero and rebranded as Talabat, while our friends at Elmenus last month landed an undisclosed investment from former Just Eat CEO David Buttress. Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti food tech startup Zyda launched in Egypt, with plans to invest USD 2 mn. Demand for delivered meals and groceries has exploded worldwide amidst covid-19, with Morgan Stanley estimating the online food delivery market hit USD 45 bn in 2020 in the US alone.

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