The French are famous worldwide for their fine cuisines and now their food tech startups are also making waves for their breakthrough innovations and securing the best funding rounds in the European tech ecosystem. Recently, Bolk, the French ‘Tesla of kitchen’ picked €4M funding, also Foodles which is re-inventing food canteens for SMEs secured investments and entered the UK.
Now Zenchef, a Paris-based startup that assists restaurants in developing their online presence, including website creation tools and the ability to take direct booking has announced that it has received an investment of over €50M from American VC PSG Equity (“PSG”), a growth equity firm partnering with software and technology-enabled services companies to help accelerate their growth and build scale across Europe and the US.
On a hiring spree
Through a comprehensive hiring drive in Europe, Zenchef intends to significantly increase its capacity in an effort to take advantage of the expanding market opportunities.
Restaurants can manage all of their front-of-house activities (reservations and venue management, website and digital menu management, marketing initiatives, click and collect, and mobile payments) from a single platform using SaaS solutions from Zenchef while still owning their data.
The company said in a press note that the management team of Zenchef hopes to accelerate its growth in Europe with the help of PSG, particularly by implementing a sustained growth strategy and creating new B2B and B2C products to further solidify its position in the restaurant technology industry.
It is anticipated that this strategy, which was launched last year with the startup Billee’s acquisition and integration, will be expanded this fall with the release of Zenchef’s consumer mobile application. With this free app, foodies can check the availability of more than 1,500 restaurants in Paris in real time and make reservations.
Zenchef was founded in 2011 by Xavier, Thomas, and Julien Zeitoun, and provides a range of technological solutions that are designed to improve front-of-house operations and the customer experience. In the past ten years, Zenchef has handled almost 50M reservations for its partners, which has led to about 170M diners at restaurants, including more than 42M in 2021.
15 European countries
Zenchef, which is present in over 15 countries and has a strong presence in France, Belgium, and Switzerland, supports the digital transformation of over 7,000 restaurants, including over 180 Michelin-starred chefs like Anne-Sophie Pic, Yannick Alléno, and Alain Passard, as well as major restaurant groups like Groupe Bertrand, Del Arte, Ninkasi, and La Criée.
“We believe this partnership with PSG marks the beginning of a new chapter of growth and reaffirms both the relevance of our solutions and our strategic position within the restaurant industry,” added Xavier Zeitoun, Co-founder and CEO of Zenchef. “In PSG, we have found an ideal partner with a strong track record in accelerating growth for software companies. With their strategic, operational and financial support, we are solidifying our ambition to become Europe’s champion. In our view, PSG will enable us to identify the relevant synergies to better serve restaurant owners and their customers, and help us pursue our ambitious recruitment plan. With the upcoming launch of our first consumer mobile app, we are closer to fulfilling our mission to an industry that has been severely tested in recent years and to which we want to bring the best technological solutions.”
“In a rapidly evolving restaurant market, we are delighted to begin a partnership with a restaurant tech leader and a company that is responsible and committed to restaurant owners,” said Charlotte Lawrence and Edward Hughes, Managing Directors of PSG. “With Zenchef, we believe we have identified not only one of the top software solutions on the market but also a scalable business with a strong brand and an ambitious and talented team that is particularly well respected by restaurant owners. Together, we believe these factors strategically position Zenchef to capitalize on the strong opportunities of the digitization of the restaurant industry.”
PSG’s team collaborates with founders and management teams to support them in their day-to-day strategic decisions, drawing on their expertise in M&A and international expansion, particularly in Europe and the United States, while pursuing a long-term investment strategy. PSG’s eighth platform investment in France and its 18th in Europe is Zenchef.
PSG is a growth equity firm that partners with software and technology-enabled services companies to help accelerate their growth and scale across Europe and North America, having raised over $14B since its inception in 2014.
