• Flypay

  Led · Equity · Oct 2016

  Flypay began as a pay-at-table app to let customers settle bills without a waiter and has since expanded to offer order-and-collect, order-at-table, pay-at-bar and customer loyalty features. The company shifted strategy toward Flyt, a platform designed to integrate many of the hospitality industry’s existing tech solutions rather than compete with them. Flyt enables restaurants and pubs to connect bookings, loyalty, delivery, reviews and other services into their own apps and to major aggregators and platforms. Flypay says its customers include mainstream casual dining and pub brands such as Wahaca, GBK, Jamie’s Italian, Fuller’s and Chilango, and it has recently signed another major U.K. restaurant brand to be announced. The startup plans to work with investors and partners to build new digital experiences for casual dining operators and to make it easier for them to adopt and utilise delivery technology. Financially, Flypay has added a £3.5M extension to its prior Series A, which previously raised £7M led by TimeOut. Flypay launched in early 2014 as a pay-at-table mobile app that lets diners scan on-table QR codes or NFC tags to recall and pay bills using credit or debit cards, including options to split items or the bill equally. It has since expanded its product set to include order-and-collect, order-at-table, pay-at-bar and customer loyalty features aimed at hospitality operators. The company says its technology is live in over 100 restaurants and bars across the U.K., including Wahaca, Cabana, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Jamie’s Italian, Burrito Mama and Drake & Morgan, with deployments coming soon at Dirty Burger, Chilango and selected Fullers pubs. Flypay’s stated goal is to cut average bill-settlement time from around ten minutes to roughly a minute, freeing staff to focus on service and experience. The business raised $10.7 million in a Series A led by TimeOut, and is pursuing wider deployment through a strategic partnership with the investor. CEO Tom Weaver said the investment and partnership will allow rapid deployment of the solution for operators and users around the world. Flypay is a UK startup that provides an iOS and Android app enabling diners to scan an on-table QR code or NFC tag to recall and settle restaurant bills without waiter interaction. The app lets users check the bill, pay by credit or debit card, split by item or equally, and aims to reduce bill-settlement time from an average of ten minutes to about one minute. For operators, Flypay reduces staff time spent on payments (the company cites an average of three waiter visits to settle a bill) and integrates with marketing and CRM systems to support in-app loyalty, rewards and discounts. Flypay disclosed brand customers Wahaca and Burrito Mama (the latter using a white-label “powered by Flypay” integration in its order-ahead app). The company launched officially coinciding with the announcement and plans to use new capital to scale its technology, add restaurant partners, and further develop its product line. Financially, Flypay announced £1 million in new funding and had previously raised £150,000 in a seed round six months earlier.

• iFood

  Participated · Equity · Aug 2016

  iFood operates a food-delivery marketplace and technology platform that connects consumers, restaurants and a large courier network. The service is a core business unit of Brazilian technology conglomerate Movile and is central to Movile’s strategy to link online and offline commerce. iFood reported strong operating metrics in the article: roughly 10.4 million delivery orders in October, 390,000 daily orders in Brazil in late October (109% year-over-year growth), about 10.8 million monthly orders serving 9 million Brazilian customers, and a network of 50,000 restaurants and 120,000 couriers. Movile overall is cited as having estimated revenues of more than $240 million and more than 150 million monthly active users. Future plans described include investing in a state-of-the-art technology platform and growing courier and restaurant partners to better serve customers across Latin America, as iFood is positioned to lead Movile’s expansion. The business is presented as fueling Movile’s wider goal of reaching one billion people through its ecosystem of content, payments and delivery services. iFood operates a mobile-first online food delivery service in Brazil, partnering with restaurants to enable phone-based ordering and fulfillment. The company has signed deals with over 10,000 partner restaurants and is handling roughly 1.7 million deliveries each month. iFood emphasizes improving its mobile experience and plans regional expansion, including a push into Mexico tied to acquiring SinDelantal. It recently secured a $30 million financing to support that regional expansion and consolidation. Movile is a majority backer and JUST EAT is a significant shareholder, and iFood has been active in M&A to grow its footprint. iFood operates a mobile-first food delivery app that enables customers to order takeout across Brazil, with strong emphasis on mobile ordering. The company reports that roughly 75% of its orders and nine out of ten new users come from mobile. It closed 2014 with over 500,000 delivery requests per month, capturing about 80% of Brazil’s online restaurant delivery market and growing 10–12% month over month (targeting one million deliveries per month by year-end). iFood relies on a delivery fleet (about 900 moto-bike drivers through a partnership with Movile’s Rapiddo) and has expanded rapidly since a 2011 spin-out from Disk Cook. Management says the capital will be used to close the online-ordering gap, boost marketing, expand into more cities, and build out team and technology. iFood is an online food-delivery platform that offers ordering and delivery through web and mobile apps. Its core product connects consumers to restaurants for delivery and the company launched iPhone and Android apps roughly six months before the article. Mobile orders grew from zero to 20% of overall business in that six-month span. iFood is fulfilling more than 50,000 orders per month from over 1,000 restaurants, and its revenues were rising at about 10% per month. The company expects to be used by more than 5,000 restaurants by 2014 and sees a $4 billion opportunity in Brazil. iFood is positioned to expand into other Latin American markets and potentially the U.S., with support from mobile-distribution partners.

• TouchBistro

  Participated · Series A · Apr 2015

  TouchBistro is an iPad-based restaurant management platform serving restaurants with tools to manage their operations. The company secured $110 million in growth financing from Francisco Partners. The capital will be used to accelerate growth, expand its product pipeline and pursue strategic acquisitions. The financing is described in the article as growth financing and was reported in TechCrunch's Daily Crunch. The raise is intended to fund both product development and inorganic expansion plans. TouchBistro is an iPad POS and integrated payments solution built specifically for the restaurant industry. More than 16,000 restaurants in over 100 countries use its platform, which processes over US$11 billion annually. The product handles order taking, payment processing, menu management, accounting, reporting, inventory management, staff scheduling, and customer loyalty. TouchBistro emphasizes software automation, predictive data insights, and seamless access to financial services through partnerships. The company plans to use the new funds to acquire complementary products, support technology development, expand international markets, and grow its team. It offers in-depth training and free 24/7 technical support and maintains offices in Toronto, New York, Austin, Chicago, London, and Mexico City. TouchBistro offers an iPad POS that serves as the core of a restaurant’s operations, handling order taking, payments, menu management, accounting, reporting, inventory, scheduling and loyalty. Led by founder and CEO Alex Barrotti, the company serves more than 12,000 restaurants in over 100 countries and processes more than US$6 billion annually. The company is based in Toronto and also maintains offices in New York, Austin, Chicago, London and Mexico City. TouchBistro plans to use new funding to develop its restaurant operating system, build new payment solutions, expand into new and existing markets, and double the size of its team over the next year. The product is positioned as an all-in-one operational platform for restaurants, integrating both front-of-house and back-office functions. TouchBistro offers an iPad POS app that lets servers enter table-side orders, send them directly to the kitchen, and accept integrated EMV payments. The product targets restaurants, bars, cafes, breweries, food trucks and quick service restaurants to increase sales and improve customer experience. The app is deployed in over 9,000 restaurants across 37 countries. TouchBistro plans to use its new capital to enhance and expand the feature set of its mPOS solution and to facilitate expansion into global markets. The company is led by founder and CEO Alex Barrotti and has offices in New York, Toronto, Chicago and Austin. Financially, TouchBistro has raised CDN$16.3M in this Series C and has raised CDN$45.3M in total funding to date. TouchBistro offers an iPad POS app and full reporting suite for the food and drink industry, serving full-service and quick-service restaurants, food trucks, coffee shops and bars. Servers use the app to take tableside orders that are instantly transmitted to the kitchen and bar; bills can be split and totals transferred electronically to integrated card keypads or mobile wallets. The company has deployed approximately 15,000 terminals across 6,000 restaurants worldwide and processes gross merchandise volumes in excess of $4 billion annually. Recent product moves include launches in Spanish and French and integrations with QuickBooks and Square. Led by founder and CEO Alex Barrotti, TouchBistro plans to use its new funding to expand sales and marketing and to build out its POS platform through partnerships and new features. The company has raised $30m in total funding to date.

No current team members are available.