Mymenu joins Pellegrini Group: you don’t need to be a unicorn to create value and start changing the shape of Italian entrepreneurship

In recent years, very few industries have grown as much as that of food delivery. As stated in the B2C eCommerce Observatory by Politecnico di Milano University and Netcomm, in 2020 Food&Grocery e-commerce grew at a rate of +70% YoY (while in 2019 the growth rate had been +56%).

For Mymenu, in addition to being a year of important growth, 2020 was also a landmark that led the company to the important results that showed in 2021: its acquisition by Pellegrini Group, an Italian reference brand in the market of corporate catering services, food supply, meal vouchers and corporate welfare.

Team up and stand up to the big players

One wonders how an Italian start-up company, which has to measure against international players every day, has succeeded in this important undertaking. The answer, as usual, is: thanks to their team and their ability to join forces at all times. Not to become the greatest, rather, to do well, pursuing their goals, without losing their nature along the way, improving every day.

Mymenu was born from the merger of a Paduan start-up company and Sgnam, from Bologna (which also acquired the Milanese Bacchetteforchette). It is the largest Italian company in the food delivery industry because it has been able to find its own, unique, identity. It focusses on a medium-high consumer range, through a selection of restaurants targeting senior customers and B2B service. Thus, if in 2019 the average receipt of this industry was 15-20 euros (and was delivered by big players such as Deliveroo, Just Eat, Glovo – which center their business on the high number of deliveries), that of Mymenu was 38 euros (grown by 20% in 2020). This means they have higher margins on orders and therefore a higher sustainability, which, among other things, allowed Mymenu to reach breakeven last year.

The role of Venture Capital

The vision of the founders joined the experience of P101 in 2014. P101 helped the young team pursue its goals, create a network, but not just that. The support of a Venture Capital fund, according to Giovanni Cavallo, co-founder of one of the three companies that merged into Mymenu, has also helped him broaden his vision as an entrepreneur and walk in the investor’s shoes.

“We have learnt to be punctual on data analysis and reporting. Having to send a monthly report to investors has taught us the importance of discipline and of making decisions that are mainly based on data. At the same time, trying walking in the investor’s shoes has allowed us to fully understand market opportunities.”

Because the needs of entrepreneurs and those of investors are different, but their goals are the same. “P101 has pointed us towards bigger markets, with a high potential for growth” stated Giovanni Cavallo. “Mymenu was our first great training ground. We’ll keep on training every day.”

The role of Venture Capital is also that of giving advice, to help create a sustainable strategy, and much more. In the acquisition by Pellegrini, P101 immediately advised Mymenu to be assisted by a financial advisor.

Everyone has their job, but when skills come together, the whole team wins. Mymenu founders have shown tenaciousness and listening skills, and this is what our VC fund has focused on, helping them on their path of growth and in the evolution of their business model.

The goal of a VC fund is not always that of creating a unicorn: the truly important thing is to create a healthy and sustainable company.