MealMe, a unified API that embeds meals and retail ordering into shopper apps and web sites, introduced on Thursday that it secured $eight million in Series A funding. The newly raised capital brings the full quantity raised to $16 million.
MealMe has undergone a number of adjustments since its launch in 2019. Initially, it was a shopper app designed to assist individuals discover one of the best offers on supply from eating places and grocery shops. It then advanced to permit customers to order meals straight via the MealMe app.
The firm has now utterly transitioned to a B2B mannequin, providing its API for different companies to combine ordering expertise into their purposes and web sites. When an organization integrates MealMe’s API, it will get entry to real-time product pricing and availability, and it permits clients to order their merchandise from native shops.
MealMe says that its API offers stock information on greater than 1 billion merchandise from greater than 1.2 million grocery shops, eating places, and retailers throughout the U.S. and Canada. It at present serves greater than 100 clients, together with Fantuan Delivery, Favor Delivery, TripAdvisor, and others.
Matthew Bouchner, co-founder and president, instructed TechCrunch, “We built the API for ourselves with the consumer app to add ordering from stores into our app, and then realized that, OK, well, we can continue growing our app, or we can pivot to B2B and be the infrastructure layer for anybody that needs the ability to pull menus and inventory and send orders into stores.”
Bouchner added that the corporate made the pivot after seeing the rising pattern of embedded commerce, which primarily entails integrating e-commerce options into current platforms. This permits companies to supply their merchandise on to clients via platforms they already use.
“Everything is going to be embedded. You’re going to be able to order from your car, from your TV, from your existing social networking apps, with your AI-based assistant, and there needs to be an infrastructure layer that connects that consumer-facing platform to stores and to marketplaces … I think that we are going to be at the forefront of everything embedded for years to come,” he stated.
The Series A was led by Mercury Fund with participation from current traders Gaingels and Palm Drive Capital.
The firm will use the brand new capital to strengthen advertising efforts and develop the group to ship higher developer help to enterprise clients. In addition to meals ordering and supply, the corporate goals to give attention to increasing into different areas, similar to broader e-commerce and AI.
