Flipdish orders up $100 million, now valued at $1.25 billion

Dublin’s Flipdish has raised $100 million in a Series C round, and in doing so becomes a card-carrying member of the unicorn club, with a valuation placed at $1.25 billion. The company serves up the underpinning power behind digital ordering and marketing systems for the hospitality industry namely via branded websites, apps, or self-service kiosks. The Series C course will be used to continue the company’s global growth, put the R&D department under the broiler, and add new dishes to the menu including support for hotels, stadiums, movie theaters, and airports. Since 2016, the company has raised approximately $154 million.

Founded by brothers Conor and James McCarthy in 2015, little could they know that the boom in the business was looming just a short five years away. Starting off with the modest goal of helping the hospitality industry digitalise, the company’s offer kicked into high gear over the course of the pandemic.

Now operating in 25 countries around the globe including the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, Flipdish helped drive one of the greatest comebacks of all time: the QR code. Using this technology that for the longest time was a solution seeking a problem, Flipdish evolved its services to include the QR code to order & pay at table.

Along the way, and listening to the market, Flipdish has developed a number of additional value adds for the hospitality industry including online ordering for collection and delivery, self-service kiosks, customer loyalty programs, solutions for dark kitchens, and digital marketing, all as more and more businesses aim to cut on the middleman, i.e. Deliveroo, UberEats, and the like.

In doing so, the Irish company has drawn the patronage of major food brands including TGI Friday's, White Castle, Dickey's BBQ Pit, amongst many others.

“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,” commented Flipdish CEO Conor McCarthy. “Our investment will help us to empower more hospitality businesses around the world to grow with the best-in-class technology."

Flipdish’s $100 million Series C round was led by Tencent and Tiger Global who now join previous investors Elkstone, Enterprise Ireland, Growing Capital, and the European Investment Fund.