Dutch firm buys popular Israeli food ordering service 10bis for $158 million

Takeaway.com N.V. has signed an accord to buy the Tel Aviv-based popular online food ordering firm 10bis for €135 million ($158 million) in cash, in a bid to increase its position in online food deliveries for businesses, the Dutch online food-delivery firm said in a statement.

10bis (the name is a play on the Hebrew for “give me a bite”) offers online and mobile food ordering services from more than 5,000 restaurants in Israel, according to its website. Founded in 2000, 10bis enables corporations to provide employees with meal benefits plans. Its software allows businesses to replace their canteens with a delivery service from local restaurants. The users can place online orders for delivery and pickup or pay with the 10bis card at a variety of restaurants. 10bis serves thousands of corporations, representing hundreds of thousands of employees, Takeaway said in a statement on Saturday, announcing the deal.

The acquisition comes on the heels of another deal in Israel’s food and restaurant technology scene, with Tel Aviv-based firm SimpleOrder being snapped up by Upserve, a US-based firm that provides restaurant management software, last week for an undisclosed amount.

While Takeaway.com is predominantly a business to consumer (B2C)  brand, 95 percent of 10bis orders are business to business (B2B) orders, the statement said. The Israeli firm however is also a market leader in the business to consumer segment, which still undeveloped but “growing rapidly,” Takeaway said.

Tamir Carmel, founder of 10bis, said the acquisition is the “recognition” of 10bis “as one of the strongest and most loved brands in Israel.”

In 2017, the 10Bis processed 15.2 million orders, worth more than €140 million ($163 million) in gross merchandise value, resulting in a revenue of €13.2 million, Takeaway said.

“10bis has built a very attractive and one of the few highly profitable online food marketplaces globally,” said Joerg Gerbig, the chief operating officer of Takeaway.com. “We will be able to add a B2B offering to our already highly compelling B2C,” business.

Takeaway believes that the combination of the complementary technology of 10bis technology with Takeaway.com’s offering and 11.5 million European consumers offers “an appealing added upside to the combined businesses, which will lead to a higher order frequency of existing consumers,” the statement said.

Takeaway.com said it would increase investment in marketing efforts and roll out its restaurant delivery service Scoober locally in Israel, for both business to consumer and business to business services.

Takeaway’s 2017 revenue grew by 49%, and the firm processed 68.3 million orders that year, up 38%. Its five leading markets are the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Belgium and Austria.