Why we invested in Foodini

At Solvable Syndicate, we back founders who are obsessed about solving big, meaningful problems. Few problems are as deeply personal, frustrating, and urgent as navigating food with allergies or dietary restrictions. That’s why we’re thrilled to announce our investment in Foodini.

The company actually closed the $1.8M round already in 2024, but announced it only now. We invested alongside Untapped Ventures, GFR Fund, MVP Capital Partners, Square Root Holdings, as well as a number of angel investors.

The daily struggle of eating out

Eating out should be joyful — catching up with friends, celebrating milestones, sharing meals. But for millions of people, it’s stressful, exhausting, and sometimes dangerous:

• Over 32 million Americans have food allergies.

• Severe reactions lead to tens of thousands of emergency room visits every year.

• Hundreds of lives are lost annually.

• Add to this the 83 million gluten-free eaters, 40 million lactose-intolerant people, and millions more who are e.g. vegan, vegetarian, or keto — and the scale of the challenge is staggering.

If you’ve ever lived with allergies, intolerances, or certain dietary preferences, you know the drill: scanning menus with anxiety, peppering staff with questions, hoping the kitchen understands, and still wondering if it’s really safe. Parents of children with allergies live with that constant tension every day.

In your hometown, you probably have some idea of where and what you can eat. But when visiting a new place, you’re in the dark.

For restaurants, it’s no easier. Staff are overwhelmed with dietary questions. Mistakes are costly. Customers leave frustrated or excluded. Everyone loses.

This is the broken system Foodini is fixing.

Foodini’s solution: Confidence at every. single. meal

Foodini is in one way a bit like Tinder for food: tell the app your dietary profile, and it matches you with restaurants and menu items that fit.

Users can select from 150+ diets, allergens, and preferences — everything from celiac disease to nut allergies to veganism. The menus are verified by accredited dietitians and continuously updated with AI that tracks changes in real time. And you don’t even need the app — diners can scan a QR code in-venue and instantly see what’s safe for them to eat.

The value is two-sided:

• For consumers, it brings peace of mind, inclusion, and confidence.

• For restaurants: there are fewer repetitive questions (up to 61% fewer!), smoother operations, safer service, and insights into their customers’ dietary needs.

Foodini is building solutions for restaurants, stadiums, events, universities, and foodtech platforms through APIs. That multi-vertical approach makes the business scalable far beyond a single app.

The timing is perfect. Dietary personalization is exploding, from medical needs to lifestyle choices. Restaurants are under pressure to meet complex customer needs while reducing liability. And technology has matured: Foodini combines AI scale with dietitian oversight for trust and safety.

Early traction that excites us

Foodini is still early, but the momentum is there:

• Growing nearly 10,000 new users (dietary profiles) every month.

• Already live in many U.S. and Australian cities, with flagship customers that have dozens of venues (Marriott, Talisman Group, Moxy Hotels, etc)

• Expanding into adjacent markets: hotels, stadiums, schools, and universities.

• New legislation like Senate Bill 68 in California will, if passed, require all California restaurants to label for food allergens.

The founders and their story

We always look for founder/problem fit, and with Foodini, it couldn’t be clearer. The company was born out of lived experience. Founder/CEO Dylan McDonnell faced the daily challenge of dietary restrictions due to allergy in his own life. He built a solution he wished he’d had years ago. And he’s surrounded himself with a world-class team, including Erica Anderman (Co-Founder and COO) and Timo Kugler (Co-Founder and CPO). Foodini a rare blend of personal passion and professional expertise.

Much more than an app

Foodini isn’t just solving today’s problem — they’re building for tomorrow. By matching diners and restaurants at the ingredient level, Foodini is creating the world’s most comprehensive dataset of dietary preferences and profiles. That data has long-term value for:

• Restaurants optimizing menus.

• Foodtech platforms improving discovery.

• Health insurers, nutrition providers, and policymakers interested in population-level dietary trends.

What Foodini really builds is the backbone of personalized dining.

Why we invested

Foodini ticks all the boxes of our thesis at Solvable Syndicate:

• A huge, global problem affecting billions (in this case, nutrition).

• A solution that makes life safer, easier, and more inclusive.

• A scalable business model with multiple revenue streams.

• Early traction that proves real product-market fit.

• A team with the grit, experience, and empathy to execute.

Our bet is that Foodini has the potential to become the default global platform for safe, personalized dining.

With this Seed round, Foodini is expanding across Australia and the U.S., launching premium consumer features, onboarding more restaurants, and building integrations with major food industry players.

It’s the start of a journey to make eating out joyful, safe, and inclusive for everyone. And we’re so proud to be on that journey with them.