Foodics Launches Automated Lending Platform Targeting $100M in First Year
The Saudi restaurant technology company will use operating data and AI credit scoring to pre-qualify F&B businesses for financing, with funds out in as little as four hours.
Tariq Benali Tariq Benali covers business and corporate news across the UAE and MENA for Anecdoted, tracking the deals, leadership moves and regulatory shifts behind the region's companies. tariq@anecdoted.com
Foodics has launched Capital 2.0, an automated funding platform that judges a restaurant's eligibility for financing on its own operating data. The Saudi restaurant technology company announced the product in a statement on Monday and said it expects to deploy close to $100 million (SAR 375 million) through it during the first year.
Underwriting from daily sales, not paperwork
Capital 2.0 does away with the traditional application process. Foodics embedded AI assesses each business on operational and financial performance, and intelligent credit scoring identifies which ones qualify. The decision rests on actual sales and financial performance rather than only a conventional credit application. Foodics already holds that data, which is the premise the product is built on.
Eligible businesses complete the process online through the Foodics app. Approved funds can be disbursed within four hours.
What the financing covers
- Working capital starting at about $5,331 (SAR 20,000).
- Expansion funding reaching $533,124 (SAR 2 million) or more.
- Invoice factoring for suppliers.
Repayment is deducted in small amounts from each daily settlement. That spreads the cost over time rather than concentrating it into larger monthly payments, matching the way restaurant cash flow actually arrives.
Ahmad AlZaini, co-founder and CEO of Foodics, said in a statement that “Restaurants generate valuable performance data every day.” He said that data should help businesses grow, not just understand their own operations.
A software vendor moves into lending
The launch shifts Foodics beyond restaurant management software and into the role of financial services partner for food and beverage businesses. The company describes access to financing as a persistent problem for restaurants, especially smaller operators, and argues that traditional processes are lengthy and do not reflect how restaurant businesses operate and generate revenue.
Capital 2.0 was unveiled at Money20/20 Middle East in Riyadh, where Foodics also expanded its omnichannel payment solutions and introduced new reconciliation and instant settlement capabilities.
Foodics was founded in Saudi Arabia in 2014 and serves traditional restaurants, cloud kitchens and non-food micro-retailers. It has processed more than six billion orders through its platform and raised $170 million in its Series C round.
Lending to restaurants has long depended on collateral and credit history, which leaves out operators with steady sales but thin balance sheets. Scoring them on transaction data changes who can borrow. It also changes the economics for the lender: repayments collected automatically at settlement cost far less to service than monthly invoices chased by hand. That is the logic pulling point-of-sale and management platforms toward finance.
