Social food ordering platform ‘Gobble’ has announced raising US$1.3 million in a seed round co-led by BEENEXT and Flash Ventures. Notable angel investors who have backed Gobble in this round include Warren Tseng (former RGM, Uber APAC), Siddharth Shanker (former General Manager at Deliveroo Singapore), and Abhishek Sahay (Regional Director, Foodpanda).
Gobble will use the funds to launch its platform across colleges, expand its tech and product team to scale, as well as improve the value proposition for restaurant partners. The platform was founded in 2021 by Ashwin Purushottam (Founder & CEO) and Domenico Tan (Co-founder & COO), who previously worked with companies such as Deliveroo, Foodpanda and Travis Kalanik’s CloudKitchens.
Gobble is on a mission to bring people together over food. It is tackling reduced social interaction among university students through its group ordering and food-gifting features. Gobble has three distinct features — One, ‘Food Feed’ lets people view and order what their friends ordered instead of scrolling endlessly through delivery apps. Second, one can gift food to anyone with a cheeky message. Finally, students can create a ‘Gobble Party’ and invite their friends to group-buy discounted meals.
“Through Gobble, we are building APAC’s first social food ordering platform built around food and friends. We not only benefit the end-users but also our restaurant partners through group orders,” said Ashwin Purushottam, founder and CEO of Gobble.
Dirk van Quaquebeke, the Managing Partner at BEENEXT, said, “Gobble is addressing a unique market opportunity. By using highly scalable technology, Gobble will bring millions together through food. We are thrilled to partner with the team on their journey to grow and expand to new markets.”
Lorenzo Franzi, Founding Partner, Flash Ventures, added, “The team is bringing a very human and local angle to food ordering and gifting, while offering a completely new experience compared to the existing food platforms. We are excited about the strong team with deep experience, and are impressed by their early execution.”
In a survey conducted by the Gobble team among about 100 students from NTU, NUS and SMU, it was found that 96% already gift food to friends. With the social-food ordering market expected to grow to $4.5 billion in Southeast Asia by 2025, Gobble is the only player that focuses on group-based social ordering.
