Flipdish announced that it has raised €40 million (~$48.5 million USD) from Tiger Global Management to expand its software platform that lets restaurants create their own branded digital properties instead of having to rely on third-party platforms for online orders.
The company said today in a blog post that it will use the new funds to build out its team, expand operationally, and improve services to its existing customers. Currently, the service operates in the UK, Germany, France, Ireland, Spain, and the U.S.
Flipdish’s promise to restaurants is that its software will help them easily set up and manage digital properties in order to bring digital ordering in-house, rather than leaving it to third-party marketplaces like Deliveroo and Uber Eats. Restaurants using software can build a website and mobile app that features their own branding but is powered by Flipdish’s technology on the back end. The system also includes built-in marketing and analytics tools.
It does not, however, appear to completely eliminate reliance on third-party delivery providers. Instead, restaurants can process orders through their own (Flipdish-powered) apps and website, and Flipdish then partners with “a number of food delivery service providers” to power the last mile. Many of those are smaller, regional on-demand delivery services, though DoorDash’s Drive service makes an appearance.
This hybrid approach isn’t unusual in the restaurant tech space. Few companies actually provide their own driver fleet along with their software stack to restaurants, ShiftPixy being the notable exception. Others, including Lunchbox, Orderslip, and Toast, integrate with some of the major third-party platforms in order to fulfill that last mile. That particular setup is unlikely to change soon, since few have the money to actually maintain a national (or international) driver fleet.
Flipdish, at least from its messaging, seems to understand that. The company noted in today’s blog post that its system isn’t just about addressing “the huge commissions taken by those marketplaces – although that is certainly part of it. It’s also about enabling those businesses to build a closer relationship with their customers.”
To date, the company has raised a total of €47.5 million, or roughly $58 million USD.
