Catering ordering platforms Mr Yum and Me&u are exploring a potential merger as their meteoric rise during post-pandemic Covid begins to level off.

A spokesman for Mr Yum confirmed to Startup Daily that talks are currently underway.

“Mr. Yum confirms that he is in preliminary discussions with me & you regarding a possible merger to accelerate the growth of both companies,” they said.

“The talks are in the early stages and no decisions have been made yet. Mr. Yum will not comment further at this time.”

In March, Mr. Yum 40 positions at the company.

Mr. Yum CEO and co-founder Kim Teo

CEO and co-founder That’s what Kim Teo said when announcing the layoffs they had “made the strategic decision to become profitable with our current cash reserves and control our fate”.

While the QR code start-up, founded in November 2018, almost doubled its revenue from orders last year and increased total company revenue by 2.7 times after acquiring Melbourne-based MyGuestlist and its subsidiary CRM platform Sprout 12 months ago lost Mr. Yum also cut 17% of its workforce – about 40 jobs – last August, with Teo saying at the time that they “expanded our workforce too quickly” and that those layoffs were “to extend our runway while capital markets remain uncertain.”

Mr Yum raised $89 million in a Series A led by US VC giant Tiger Global in November 2021 – and $100 million in total over six months.

Me&u founder Stevan Premutico (center) with investors Robbie Cooke (l) and Justin Hemmes (r).

Meanwhile, rival pub food ordering platform Me&u raised $30 million last December in a round led by Acorn Capital that would reportedly give the 3.5-year-old startup enough runway to become profitable next fiscal year. Details of the increase – the company reportedly could see up to $50 million – only came out last month.

Me&u has raised a total of $66 million.

Funders include Justin Hemmes, CEO of Merivale, who rolled out the app in his Sydney hotel empire, chef Neil Perry, founder of the Urban Purveyor Group, John Szangolies, and former executives of Facebook, Uber, MYOB, and Google. William Easton, Mike Abbott, Tim Reed and Jason Pellegrino.

Me&u is the 800-pound gorilla in the industry, with a 70% market share of the country’s top pub groups, compared to 20% for Mr Yum and 10% for others.