Vostok New Ventures (VNV) and Endure Capital have co-led a $26m Series A investment round in Breadfast, Egypt’s grocery delivery platform.

Björn von Sivers, Investment Manager at VNV Global, said: "Over the past few years, Breadfast fueled its growth by offering something that's highly scarce in emerging markets; an exceptionally good customer experience and solid operational excellence.”

“We see Breadfast becoming one of the most successful companies to come out of Africa and the Middle East. We at VNV Global are excited to embark on this journey of changing the customers' experience and making them happy. We look forward to taking over the Q-commerce space with the Breadfast team.”

The round also included participation from JAM Fund, led by Justin Mateen, Co-Founder of Tinder, YC Continuity Fund, a Saudi-based large group, Abu Dhabi based Shorooq Partners, 4DX Ventures and Flexport.  This investment round brings Breadfast’s total investment to date to more than $33m since it launched in 2017 and one of the largest in the region so far in 2021.

Justin Mateen, Head of JAM Fund, said: “Breadfast is defining how consumers in emerging markets plan and carry out their grocery shopping. The Breadfast team has managed to build a complex operation, that offers a seamless experience for customers.”

“Supported by a massive demographic and favorable operating expenses in emerging markets, Breadfast is poised to become a leader in the grocery q-commerce market. I am excited about supporting this team in their future plans.”

The new capital raised will fuel Breadfast’s rapid expansion into eight new cities across Egypt, scale the technology behind its ‘pocket supermarket’ app, and grow its team as it gears up to expand its extensive grocery delivery service across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Through its iOS and Android-enabled app, Breadfast offers scheduled and on-demand delivery of groceries and other household essentials. Deliveries are currently offered in under 60 minutes, with the company planning on bringing that down to 20 minutes by utilizing a portion of the new funding to grow its web of dark stores.

Breadfast’s journey began as a scheduled bakery service delivering freshly made bread and pastries to customers’ doorsteps every morning.

Today, Breadfast offers more than 2,500 supermarket items, comprising a range of breakfast products as well as other household and electronic items.

The company oversees every part of the supply chain – from building the technology, to sourcing goods, distributing them across its web of grocery dark stores, to last-mile delivery.

With $1trn spent in the MENA region and $50bn spent in Egypt alone on groceries, the region’s growing demand provides a unique opportunity for Breadfast to capitalise and become a regional leader in the sector.

Mostafa Amin, Co-Founder and CEO at Breadfast, said: “We are delighted to be joined by a number of vastly-experienced and strategic investors, whose expertise will not only play a vital role ahead of our expansion across Africa, but also in our future ambitions outside of the continent.”