Singaporean food-ordering platform Gobble closes shop due to funding woes, low profit

Social media-based food-ordering platform Gobble has shut down in Singapore after just over 18 months of operations due to its inability to secure additional funding to fuel its growth.

According to one of the company’s founders, Ashwin Purushottam, food ordering has exhibited an onslaught of disappointing IPOs, which set an unfortunate precedent for their next fundraiser.

While the platform enjoyed a high volume of sales, reaching US$350,000 in annual gross merchandise value with revenue surging by 47 percent month-on-month, the profit margins were too low for the company to continue running.

Co-founder Domenico Tan said they realized that relying solely on a B2C model wasn’t sustainable for them and that they failed to show a quick enough path to positive cash flow.

He added that with their current funding, they would not be able to generate enough revenue just from Singapore to raise their Series A.

The food pick-up app for discount group orders was founded by the two entrepreneurs in 2021. The company subsequently bagged $1.3 million in a seed round led by Beenext and Flash Ventures.

According to a report released by Grab and Euromonitor International, the Southeast Asian online food delivery gross merchandise value is estimated to grow from US$9 billion in 2020 to $28 billion in 2025.