Just Eat fighter Flipdish has raised €4.8 million for its big European push
The company’s software helps restaurants build their own online delivery services.
DUBLIN FOOD-ORDERING software startup Flipdish has secured a €4.8 million investment to fund its European expansion.
The company develops a software platform to help restaurants operate their own online food ordering services rather than using third-party operators like Just Eat.
According to Flipdish, it gives greater control to the restaurants in their relationships with customers.
The series A round was led by Global Founders Capital, a venture capital division of European startup builder Rocket Internet, which has backed numerous food-delivery businesses. Previous investor Elkstone contributed to the round.
The new injection of cash follows a €2.7 million round in July while the company also acquired a Dutch rival in August.
Chief executive Conor McCarthy told Fora that the company will be investing the funds in improving its platform as well as introducing marketing and advertising features.
“We are building out features on the platform to help stores get more orders. There are a lot of things customers could do online that’s difficult for them to do, such as advertising and marketing,” he said.
The new features, which will be rolled out next year, will be designed to help restaurants push their brand awareness online.
Over a thousand restaurants are using Flipdish, and the company hopes to grow that number significantly as it expands into several European markets.
“We have people on the ground already in Spain, the Netherlands and Scotland. We will be hiring in a few more countries in Europe as soon as we can find good people,” McCarthy said.
“Most European countries are looking good for us. We expect to hire people in Germany and France.”
Third parties
McCarthy added that many of its customers in Ireland had dropped Just Eat as an ordering platform since signing up with Flipdish.
He said that restaurants are feeling the need to eschew third-party platforms to regain control of the customer experience and avoid paying high commission fees.
Flipdish charges a 7% rate on orders made using its technology, compared to around 13% for Just Eat.
“We find that people ordering from restaurants don’t want to order through a platform. If they’re leaving the portal, their customers find a way to order from that restaurant,” he said.
“I think that trend will continue because there isn’t a need to use the platforms. The platforms became very popular because there was no technology available for restaurants to accept online orders.”
