Founders of the Singaporean food ordering app Oddle, which offers choices from Michelin-starred restaurants to bubble tea concoctions, are working with an adviser to exit the company, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The start-up, cofounded by Jonathan Lim (林澤延), Pua Yong Xiang (潘永祥) and Jeremy Lee (李俊輝), has reached out to potential suitors to gauge interest, said the people, asking not to be named as the process is private.
Sale documents show that Oddle has raised total funds of S$5 million (US$3.7 million) over the past three years and is projecting a gross profit of S$8 million for the fiscal year ending March next year, the people said.
Online food ordering from people stuck indoors has taken off since the outbreak of the COVID-19, boosting revenues at companies such as Oddle.
Deliberations are at an early stage and the founders could decide to keep the business, the people said.
The firm declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg News.
The start-up counts SPH Ventures, RB Investment, Fidelis Capital, Wavemaker Partners and Quest Ventures among its backers, according to its most recent filings with Singapore regulators.
The company’s order management system is used by about 3,000 brands in more than 10 countries, its Web site shows.
Among these outlets are Odette, ranked as Asia’s best restaurant, where people can order Normandy crab dumplings and milk-fed Axuria lamb, as well as humbler offerings such as bubble tea and ice cream.
Oddle posted revenue of S$1.8 million in the year ended March 31, 2018, surging 57 percent from a year earlier, according to the filings.
Its net loss narrowed to S$2.3 million from S$2.6 million.
The number of tech start-up exits in Southeast Asia was little changed in the first half of this year from a year ago, according to a recent report by Singapore-based Cento Ventures.
The proceeds generated from the exits dropped by almost 50 percent, the report said.
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