Kombo King, Cape Town-based food tech startup secured an undisclosed amount of funding from The Vumela Fund that was founded by Edge Growth and FNB Business.
Fund, established by FNB Business and Edge Growth.
The Principal at Edge Growth and lead dealmaker, Vuyiswa Nzimande explains the investment made in the startup.
“Consumer-centric products offering are vital to customer attraction in a food market that is highly competitive and convenient. We view Kombo King fryers as an enabler to its clients to differentiate themselves in terms of speed of service, quality, and consistency while enhancing the value proposition of clients”.
Kombo King
Ari Jacobson and KK Combi established the startup in 2015. Kombo King is a South African kitchen equipment supplier that provides ventless fryer technology to the fried food niche market.
“On a trip to Beijing, I find out the importance of speed to service customers on the move and in a small space. This influenced me to turn a dream into reality. Back home the ancient and hygienic way of frying created a foundation for new thinking. This brought about the advanced fryer technology which is now seen in the leading branded stores in South Africa. The many iterations of the fryer evolution had held my beady eye for ten years and when the opportunity presented itself, we established the business in 2015.”
The innovative ventless fryer provides retail stores a less costly option compared to traditional fryers. Kombo King’s fryer saves retails oil and electricity costs with kitchen space. Kombo King’s ventless fryer is developed and manufactured in South Africa and has enhanced the quality of food provided in the value market.
The CEO of Kombo King’s Ari Jacobson explains what influenced the establishment of the ventless fryers.
“I saw the need to take open fryer out of fast food retail. I felt there should be an emphasis on advanced fryer technology. I have experience driving a business that opened the door to Pick n Pay where we tested the fryer in a live environment. This helps to serve customers fried food within three minutes”.
