Today, online catering marketplace ezCater announced it’s closed a $150 million Series D-1 round, co-led by Lightspeed VenturePartners and GIC.
This comes nine months after ezCater raised a $100 million Series D round. It brings the catering giant’s total funding to $320 million and puts them at a $1.25 billion valuation, making them a food tech unicorn. And as far as we’re aware, they’re the first food tech catering unicorn.
In addition to raising some serious funds, ezCater has been on the expansion path this past year. In July 2018 the Boston-based company expanded globally by acquiring Paris-based online catering platform GoCater. And just last week, they acquired MonkeySoft Solutions, a software company which helps restaurant operators increase off-premise sales through training and data insights.
Currently, over 60,000 restaurants and caterers use ezCater’s platform worldwide. According to a press release sent to the Spoon, the latest raise will help ezCater expand their global operations.
It’s a big day for corporate catering companies, apparently. Hungry, the online marketplace which connects independent chefs with business catering opportunities, raised $8 million.
Which, compared to $150 million, might not sound all that significant. However, it goes to show that the growth in the catering market isn’t slowing down anytime soon, especially as more and more tech companies offer free food perks to entice employees.
In the past year, both ZeroCater, Chewse, Oh My Green and Platterz raised double-digit million dollar rounds. In the U.K., Feedr raised £1.5 million (~$1.92M USD). At the same time, there’s also been some consolidation and reduction in the space. Square acquired Zesty, EAT Club acquired Farm Hill and Peach laid off 33 percent of its staff.
ezCater’s massive funding round shows that the catering space is likely to see some more big investments — and big shakeups — in the next year, too.
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