Toronto iOS Restaurant App Developer TouchBistro Raises $6 Million Series A Round

Toronto-based point-of-sale restaurant app developer TouchBistro has raised a $6 million Series A round of funding from existing investors Kensington Capital Partners, Relay Ventures and Difference Capital, while adding a strategic partner in the form of Danish-founded, U.K.-based JUST EAT.

TouchBistro CEO Alex Barrotti will use the funding to bring on several new hires and to focus on international expansion, greatly facilitated by the partnership with JUST EAT.

The TouchBistro iOS app allows servers to automatically transmit a customer’s order directly to the kitchen as it’s being taken at the table, while integrating with a wide variety of payment options. Servers can also automatically split bill totals according to customer preference and calculate tip.

JUST EAT brings over 8 million users and over 45,700 outlets making use of its restaurant delivery platform to the partnership. Perhaps more important, though, is JUST EAT’s capacity to help TouchBistro expand into the European market.

The partnership also offers JUST EAT a better way to integrate its existing delivery platform with TouchBistro’s point-of-sale technology.

“We will take TouchBistro’s global expansion to an entirely new level with this latest round of funding,” said Barrotti. “We are delighted to have the continued support of our previous investors for our latest round, and are particularly excited to have JUST EAT involved as a new strategic investor. We believe that TouchBistro and JUST EAT individually provide restaurants with great services, but that an integrated solution makes for a much better customer experience.”

In the past year, TouchBistro has almost tripled its user base and opened a New York office. It was the top grossing food and beverage app in the iTunes store in 33 countries.

TouchBistro has also forged partnerships with Uber and OpenTable while integrating with mobile payment solutions like PayPal’s Pay-At-Table and Apple Pay.

As hard-wired point-of-sale terminals face a diminishing future, restaurant retailers are increasingly turning to cloud-based solutions like TouchBistro’s, which facilitate mobile transactions that can be deployed in a variety of contexts, including pop-up restaurants, food trucks, university and hospital cafeterias, and brick-and-mortar restaurants.

“TouchBistro offers a level of customer focus with comprehensive yet simple-to-use point of sale features that are exactly what food service providers need to streamline operations and ensure their customers love their takeaway experiences,” says Todd Masse, Managing Director at JUST EAT Canada. “We are enthusiastic about introducing TouchBistro to our restaurant customers across the globe that share this mission.”

TouchBistro’s raised a $4.5 million seed round in December 2013.