The Hamburg-based founders Malte Steiert and Finn Fahrenkrug ventured into “The Lion’s Den” on VOX TV last last autumn to pitch their business idea. Their social food network allows users to discover and share restaurants and dishes. Like Tinder, users swipe restaurants to the right or left, depending on their taste. Once a favourite has been selected, a table can be reserved via the app, the shortest route can be displayed or food ordered.
At the time, the “lion” Carsten Maschmeyer sensed his prey and made the young founders an offer they could not refuse – a cash injection of EUR 450,000 in return for a 31.6 per cent share of the company. Maschmeyer, who owns an investment company in San Francisco, among others, had set himself the goal of helping the founders launch on the U.S. market. But how has the social-gastro app fared in the meantime?