Online catering marketplace ezCater raised $150 million in a Series D-1 round co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and GIC to continue its global expansion spree.
This round brings ezCater's total venture funding to $320 million. The company's valuation is now $1.25 billion, making it Boston's latest unicorn.
"It is a monster round, and we got a nice valuation," said ezCater CEO Stefania Mallett.
Just last week, the 12-year-old company acquired Vancouver-based Monkey Group, a company that makes, among other things, the cloud platform for takeout, delivery and catering for an undisclosed sum. This acquisition, the company noted, will bolster ezCater’s online catering marketplace with a robust catering software, data insights, point-of-sale system and loyalty programs.
Commenting on the acquisition, Mallett said, "What we get out of this acquisition is to be the indisputable leader in our market. We're looking to strengthen our capabilities with tools for restaurants as well as on the marketplace side."
This is the company's second acquisition after snapping up Paris-based GoCater, a corporate meal service, in 2018. The acquisition gave the company an outpost in France, where it now employs 25 people.
"Two years ago, we decided we were ready to go international. It took us some time to do some shopping," Mallett said. "But when we see a company that fits, we will go after it aggressively."
ezCater focuses on drop-off catering; the company does not cater to one-off events. On the social side, it caters birthday parties, barbecue parties, 4th of July parties and on the corporate side, ezCater caters to sales meetings, client meetings and employee lunches.
The company claims that 97 percent of Fortune 500 companies use the catering marketplace with its clientele including companies like AstraZeneca, SAP, DocuSign, Match.com and JLL.
ezCater employs 660 full-time employees. Of which, 25 are in Paris, 150 in Denver, 40 people in Vancouver and the rest in Boston. The company plans to add 300 people in 2019 across all its offices. In Boston, ezCater will hire programmers, sales and customer service executives and managers.
