The global pandemic was tough on the restaurant industry, one that was already slow to adopt technology but then also had to quickly learn how to manage the back office and online orders or risk going out of business.
As the global restaurant management software market is forecasted to reach $14.7 billion by 2030, startups are busy developing solutions to help restaurants grow and got some significant venture backing to go with it. Think OneOrder, TouchBistro, PreciTaste, ConverseNow, Fudo, Owner.com and even Chipotle, which is investing its own money into new restaurant technologies.
MarginEdge, a restaurant management and bill payment platform, is the latest to secure some fresh capital, $45 million in Series C funding, bringing its funding to date to over $71 million. Ten Coves Capital led the round with participation from Fiserv, Derive Ventures and all of the company’s previous institutional investors.
During that same period of time, Bo Davis, co-founder and CEO of MarginEdge, told TechCrunch via email that “restaurant operators are a resilient and resourceful bunch and pushed through the adversity of the last few years with a commitment to their craft, their teams and the guests they serve — but also with a recognition that this new normal requires new tools.”
In 2021, we profiled the company, which gathers data to give restaurants a real-time look at their costs, when it raised $18 million. MarginEdge provides invoice processing, inventory management, recipe analysis, budgeting, performance tracking and supplier bill payment capabilities. At the time, the company was working with over 2,500 restaurants and processing 45,000 invoices a week.
In the past year, MarginEdge grew its revenue 100% and is now working with 4,000 customers and processing 80,000 invoices per week, which Davis said represents $2.5 billion in purchasing. The company also nearly doubled its team to about 700 employees.
With the new capital, he intends to improve and expand the platform, including being able to provide more real-time reporting capabilities, enhancing the mobile app and expanding its payment network. Next up, Davis has his eye on reaching 15,000 restaurants by the end of 2024.
Ned May, co-founder and managing partner of Ten Coves Capital, has invested in other restaurant tech companies, including TouchBistro and 7shifts, and said via email that demand continues to grow for technology in this sector.
“We’ve seen the pain points and complexities around managing inventory and expenses, only made worse with unpredictable supply chains and skyrocketing food costs,” May said. “Further, with strong cloud point-of-sale adoption in recent years, many restaurants have shifted their focus to streamlining back-of-house operations. MarginEdge’s restaurant management platform is purpose built to serve these needs and, as such, is poised for incredible growth.”
As startups whip up a restaurant tech frenzy, is anyone close to Toast?
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