Originally, Cheetah offered services to restaurateurs in the U.S., offering a solution to the communication with dozens of suppliers, scheduling of different orders, and endless phone calls a week. The company’s platform enabled restaurateurs to use a simple app with clear prices to stock-up on their restaurant supplies. The idea made it simple, orders were accepted until midnight without the back-and-forth bargaining, and delivery was promised the next day. However, then, the virus came and closed down the restaurants. At first sight, this would be a death blow for any startup dependent on restaurants, although, the smart minds at Cheetah were able to make a pretty clever pivot.

Even without restaurants, there are still consumers

With restaurants closed, Cheetah still has suppliers and inventory that can still make it to end-customers. Therefore, instead of restaurants, Cheetah developed a private consumer service, called Cheetah For Me. All customers need to do is download the app, choose from over 3,000 different products, and pick-up the very next day from the company’s San Francisco Bay area collection point. At location, the customer needs to present their order form - without leaving their vehicle - and the products are loaded directly into the trunk.

Just like the supermarket and online rush in Israel, The United States is also dealing with the difficulties of receiving home deliveries - as well from major corporations who had to reduce a big chunk of their activity. Cheetah claims that it will always be possible for customers to collect their next-day orders from the pick-up location. Meaning that they have been able to overcome the problems that face the giants, like Amazon, which is struggling to keep up with demand at the same rate as the American people were accustomed to before.

Raising $36 million in the midst of COVID

Cheetah was founded in 2013 by CEO, Na’ama Moran; Alon Har-Tal, CTO, and Christopher Elliot, COO. The company employs workers at both the headquarters in SanFrancisco and their R&D center in Netanya. Recently, the company announced the completion of a $36 million funding round, led by Eclipse Ventures, with Floodgate Fund, Hanaco Venture, and ICONIQ Captial also on the investors’ list. With this latest round completed, the company has raised a total of $66 million in funding since founded.