Maison Duffour, a UAE-based gourmet food e-commerce platform specialized in home delivery, just raised a $400,000 fundraise from French and local business angels; including Aurélien de Meaux (Cheerz founder and CEO of Electra), Frédéric Gastaldo (Photoweb’s founder), Timothée Désormeaux and Edouard Daou (from Acquisit) and Benjamin Grolimund (from Bloomberg).

The startup was founded at the end of 2016 by international French couple Alix and Rodolphe Duffour, who have backgrounds in F&B and e-commerce. The couple saw a serious gap in the affordable luxury segment while also noticing a lack of offering in the online food store landscape. Maison Duffour has recorded significant growth since its inception, and with a team of 12 employees, the startup has moved to its own warehouse to accommodate its increasing volume of orders and further drive its progress.

In the short run, the startup plans on using the investment to accelerate its growth and consolidate its presence in the regional gourmet food landscape. This will be achieved primarily by expanding their product range on the website in order to address a variety of audiences seeking gourmet food from their respective home countries.

“We naturally started with French products as this is where we come from. It’s easier to source the best products when you know the products. Now, we feel that we are armed to source products outside France with the same motto: real food with real taste at the right price.”

Alix Duffour, Co-founder, Maison Duffour