Location: Sydney, Australia. Originally Kerry, Ireland
Stage: Seed (October 2022), Early-stage VC Antler led the round, with participation from 10 other investors.
What is Foodini?
The Foodini app matches people with a variety of dietary needs with restaurants that can serve them. From gluten-free to lactose-intolerant, allergies, vegans, FODMAPers Foodini has you covered. Dieticians combine with the platform’s tech to review restaurants and menus to give a breakdown of what they can eat at each venue. Foodini now has thousands of venues and customers across the globe and is closing on its Series-A round to supercharge global growth.
Foodini’s Origin
Dylan was diagnosed with coeliac disease when he was 10 years old. He struggled to find gluten-free food in restaurants in the early 2000s. When COVID-19 hit, he had a lot more spare time on his hands and began exploring the idea of side hustling. After a lot of hard work, Dylan decided to leave his law career and go all in with Foodini.
What Does it Mean to be an Irish Founder Abroad?
Being a founder is challenging wherever you are in the world. However, I have come to the realisation over the last 24 months, that my “unfair advantage” is actually the fact that I am Irish.
The Irish expat community is already globally renowned for being the most supportive globally. Nearly all Irish people can resonate with being supported/supporting other Irish people when they move abroad. My experience as an entrepreneur has been no different, in that Irish people in Australia and the US have gone out of their way to support me and Foodini in any way they can.
Some of the most senior execs in the biggest companies in the world are Irish, and I am always slightly shocked at their willingness to give their time to the next generation. Simultaneously the support from family, friends, and former colleagues from home never ceases to amaze me.
So in summary, in my opinion, leveraging your Irish network abroad has the potential to open so many doors that people from other countries simply don’t have – take advantage of it!
Deeper Focus
- Dietary needs app Foodini raises $700,000 pre-Seed round to go national
- Shirts of Startups: the human stories of inspiring founders – Foodini