South Africa’s Kombo King Secures Funding

South Africa’s food-tech startup Kombo King has announced that it secured an undisclosed amount of funding from The Vumela Fund, established by FNB Business and Edge Growth.

Kombo King was founded in 2015 by Ari Jacobson and KK Combi, the startup specializes in kitchen equipment supply and provides ventless fryer technology to the fried food niche market. The innovative ventless fryer offers retail stores a cost-effective option when compared to traditional fryers. Kombo King’s fryer saves retails in electricity and oil costs alongside kitchen space.

KK Combi, co-founder, and chairman of Kombo Kitchen speaking on the startup’s creation said that the idea of setting up the Kombo King occurred to him during a trip to Beijing, where he realized the importance of speed to service customers on the move and in a small space. This planted a seed and triggered his desire to turn a dream into reality.

Ari Jacobson, CEO of Kombo King’s explains what inspired the launch of the innovative ventless fryers.

“I saw the need to take the open fryer out of fast-food retail. I felt the focus should shift to advanced fryer technology. My experience of driving a business opened the door to Pick n Pay where we tested the fryer in a live environment. This meant serving customers fried food in three minutes.”

Vuyiswa Nzimande, the Principal at Edge Growth and lead dealmaker speaking on the investment said that Kombo King has differentiated itself due to the quality of service it provides.

“Consumer-centric product offerings are key to attracting customers in a highly competitive convenience food market. We view Kombo King fryers as an enabler to its clients to differentiate themselves in terms of quality, consistency, and speed of service while increasing the client’s value proposition”.