A Bay Area startup that's building software for small restaurant owners has more than doubled its total funding with millions from a new Series B round, but its founder wasn't even in the market for fresh capital.
Adam Guild was perfectly happy with Owner.com's runway and growth. Then the startup's investors approached him about doubling down on the business.
On Wednesday, the company announced the close of a $33 million round for the Series B that was led by Redpoint and Alt Capital, and also included Horsley Bridge, Activant Capital and Transpose Platform Management.
"We already had a really strong balance sheet, years of runway, and we were starting to feel the preemptive interest" from outside investors, Guild told me. "When we asked our major investors for advice on what to do with all of the inbound interest we'd received from other investors, they said, 'Well, if you're interested in raising more money, we'd rather do it.'"
The new round brings Owner's total funding to more than $58 million. It also bumped the company's valuation to $200 million, Guild confirmed.
That's a significant jump from 2020 when Guild raised just shy of $3.5 million at a $10.8 million valuation, according to PitchBook.
Guild founded Owner in 2018 when he was just 17. He originally set out to help his mom run her dog-grooming business but solidified his strategy around serving restaurants.
The company charges customers a flat $500 monthly fee per retail location, rather than taking fees based on revenue or order volume. Other restaurant service providers, particularly delivery apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats, often take up to 30% in fees from orders placed through them.
Owner's flat fee "covers everything," Guild said. "Our customers aren't necessarily tech-savvy, and in many cases aren't native English speakers. (Owner) gives them the ability to operate as though they were tech experts and as though they were expert writers and communicators."
The company says it has thousands of customers using its suite of tools, which aim to streamline anything a small restaurant business might need. That includes everything from building a website and mobile app to managing online orders and marketing.
Eventually, Guild wants to expand Owner into an all-purpose software provider for small businesses, a vision that includes an international expansion over the next five years, as well — something that could be a "trillion-dollar business," he said.
Now armed with plenty of cash and runway, Guild will be focused on hiring more staff and integrating new AI-powered features that will use OpenAI software and Owner's proprietary data.
Previously based in Palo Alto, Owner now has an office in South San Francisco and has close to 100 employees, though it operates as a remote-first company.
