Internet and gaming group Tencent led a funding round for Flipdish, the Ireland-based developer of a customer experience software platform, sized at approximately $100m today, highlighting the steady digitalisation of the hospitality industry.
The round values the company at $1.25bn and the proceeds will be used to grow its presence globally as it looks to ramp up research and development and add some 700 new hires over the course of 2022.
Founded in 2015, Flipdish provides white label technology that lets hospitality businesses like restaurants improve the food ordering experience by developing tools in areas such as QR code-based order and payment, online ordering and self-service for food brands.
In a market increasingly saturated with food ordering aggregators and delivery specialists, services like Flipdish’s look to provide an alternative that lets restaurant owners create their own online ordering capabilities in-house.
Despite harming the industry as a whole, the covid-19 pandemic has also accelerated the rise of digital, automated and contactless functionality as a reaction to social distancing, becoming an important factor in attracting hospitality business during the recovery.
The wider hospitality industry is being offered an array of technological solutions across numerous functions like management software, digital hospitality services and full automation which are in turn experiencing an influx of investment.
Japan-based automated accommodation provider H2O Hospitality, which manages unmanned hotels with automated front and back-end functionality, raised $30m in September 2021 a series C round co-led by Kakao Investment, a corporate venturing subsidiary of internet group Kakao.
Also in Japan, digitalisation technology developer Cuicin received an undisclosed amount last month from financial services provider Yamaguchi Financial Group’s Yamaguchi Bank, Momiji Bank, Kitakyushu Bank and Yamaguchi Capital subsidiaries.
US-based Butler Hospitality, which runs a ghost kitchen service that outsources room service for nearby hotels, secured $15m in a mid-2020 series A round backed by conglomerate Kraft Group at a post-money valuation of $85m.
Public markets have not been untouched by the trend, with US-based restaurant management software provider Presto agreeing to a $1.04bn reverse merger in November 2021, linking up with Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition company Ventoux CCM Acquisition Corp.
Flipdish chief executive Conor McCarthy said: “Digitisation has been transforming the hospitality sector for years. The ongoing pandemic has further accelerated the trend with hospitality businesses becoming increasingly dependent on digital experiences to attract and retain customers. Our investment will help us to empower more hospitality businesses around the world to grow with the best-in-class technology.
“If you want to see the future of digital customer experience and food delivery, look to China. Tencent is our ideal partner with its track record of supporting food delivery companies.”
Flipdish had raised $48.5m from Tiger Global Management in February 2021 round having received over $5.4m in a December 2018 round led by Global Founders Capital and backed by Elkstone, which had invested $2.3m five months earlier.
Growing Capital and Enterprise Ireland had supplied $540,000 in seed capital for the company in 2017 to increase its overall funding to about $770,000.
Tencent eamed up with Chinese state-owned tourism and hospitality group Jin Jiang last month to drive innovation in the country’s hotel industry by creating an open API bank that enables software-as-a-service providers to more easily integrate smart systems into hotel facilities.
