What is Akeed?
Akeed is an Omani startup that provides last mile delivery company for restaurants and grocery stores. It is an Omani food delivery platform with the largest network with 1,100 restaurants and grocery stores.
Akeed began operations in February 2018 initially using Whatsapp as the platform to accept food delivery requests. In May 2018, the Akeed application was introduced and since then, the start-up has completed 500,000+ orders. Above the delivery services, Akeed provides restaurants with insights in order to improve performance and geographic expansion. The service is now available in six cities across Oman.
Akeed is Oman’s first successful food delivery app to go head to head with a regional giant and is considered an example for Omani start-ups, achieving high growth rate and impressive returns.
Importance for IDO
The COVID-19 Pandemic had various negative effects on the global economy, and Oman was no different. The Food and Beverage (F&B) industry was especially impacted and had a domino effect on produce suppliers, including local farmers. Akeed, not only provides a lifeline for the restaurants and its supply chain but also established a program to onboard Omani drivers, in partnership with Europcar, and was the perfect candidate for IDO Investments’ ERIP*.
How Akeed is helping alleviate the COVID-19 Pandemic
The F&B ecosystem was severely impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic as customers were encouraged to stay at home, and eventually restaurants were asked to offer take away and delivery services only. Akeed is the perfect platform to provide liquidity and a source of income for restaurants, allowing small businesses to stay afloat during such uncertain times.
In addition, it enables services to ensure people staying at home as it continued to expand its food and grocery offering, signing on larger supermarkets and restaurants that did not previously offer delivery.