French Delivery Enablement Startup Not So Dark Raises $80 Million

This is an English adaptation of a FoodBud historical article originally published on October 13, 2022.

36Kr, citing TechCrunch, reported that French startup Not So Dark had completed an $80 million Series B round led by Kharis Capital and Verlinvest, with participation from Convivialité Ventures.

From Dark Kitchens to Virtual Franchising

Not So Dark started with a dark-kitchen model, but after its Series A financing the company moved away from that approach because of funding and other constraints.

Its revised model focused on existing restaurants. Instead of building and operating kitchens itself, Not So Dark created delivery-specific menus that partner restaurants could add to their own operations.

The idea was to help restaurants test new dishes, expand delivery sales, and create additional revenue streams without building a separate brand infrastructure from scratch.

How the Model Worked

Not So Dark handled recipe design and ingredient sourcing. Partner restaurants were responsible for cooking the dishes and fulfilling delivery orders.

Brands working with Not So Dark included Vegedal, Como Kitchen, Coquillettes, JFK Burgers, Fat Panda, Gaïa Pita, and Walida.

Consumers could find these restaurant concepts on delivery platforms including Deliveroo and Uber Eats. At the time of the report, Not So Dark was operating in 100 cities across France and Belgium.

On monetization, Not So Dark took a commission from restaurants, similar to a traditional restaurant franchise model. TechCrunch described the approach as a “virtual franchise”; for operators, it is closer to outsourced delivery-business management.

Operator Support Beyond Menu Creation

The company also provided advertising and operational support for delivery-platform performance.

According to the report, Not So Dark helped restaurants improve search visibility on Uber Eats, Deliveroo, and other delivery platforms, and supported real-time pricing adjustments based on competitors. For traditional restaurants, this type of platform optimization can be time-consuming to manage internally.

Not So Dark was co-founded by Clément Benoit and Alexandre Haggai and had 150 employees at the time.

Market Context

Citing Statistica, the article said Europe’s food delivery market was worth about $16.5 billion before the virus outbreak and was expected to grow at 10% annually over the following 10 years.

It also stated that Takeaway.com, Uber Eats, and Deliveroo together held more than 80% of the European delivery-platform market.

Note: financing amounts and forward-looking market growth figures are historical, based on reporting from October 2022.