Popmenu Inc., an Atlanta restaurant technology startup, raised $65 million to continue developing an all-in-one platform that helps restaurants engage and interact with customers.
Inside the deal: Tiger Global Management, a New York-based private equity firm, led the round. Salesforce Ventures and existing investors Bedrock Capital, Base10 and Felicis Ventures also participated. This latest round brings Popmenu’s total investments to $87 million.
About the company: CEO Brendan Sweeney, Vice President of Product Mike Gullo, Vice President of Technology Justis Blasco and President Tony Roy founded Popmenu in 2016. The startup’s original platform digitized restaurant menus and allowed owners to update them in real-time. It also helped restaurants host reviews, photos and ratings on their own websites so customers wouldn't have to find information on third-party sites such as Yelp or Google.
During the pandemic, the startup accelerated development of new products to prevent clients from shuttering their doors. Sweeney says the team developed an off-premise ordering feature in two weeks. Then, Popmenu created online communication tools, such as email templates and social posts, to help restaurants stay in touch with customers.
Why it matters: The all-in-one platform could provide more flexibility to restaurant owners, especially as the industry faces a labor shortage. Job openings in the accommodation and food services industries have increased across the country in 2021. There were about 1.3 million food service jobs open in May, compared to 657,000 in January, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Popmenu’s artificial intelligence-powered platform allows restaurants to choose how much of their services they want to automate, freeing workers to focus on other tasks, said Justin Krivanek, Popmenu’s senior director of marketing. Popmenu is part of a wave of technology solutions in the restaurant industry, which was forced to innovate because of pandemic safety protocols.
What’s next: Popmenu has about 165 employees based remotely and in Atlanta. The startup plans to have 200 employees by the end of the year and reach more than 300 by the end of next year. Krivanek says the startup is hiring mostly in the engineering and sales departments and isn’t limiting its talent search to the Atlanta area. Popmenu is expanding its office on Parkwood Circle, which is across the highway from Truist Park stadium, Krivanek said. The startup will release more product developments in the next two months.
What they’re saying: “Today’s restaurant owners struggle to manage a mass of platforms, services, providers and subscriptions — Popmenu Max removes the hassle and complexity from a restaurant’s tech stack with a revolutionary all-in-one approach that allows operators to decide how high-tech or high-touch they want their customer experience to be,” Sweeney said in a statement.
