Restaurant QR code ordering has been available for a while, but the epidemic accelerated its popularity as social distance and hygiene precautions were implemented. Mr. Yum, a Melbourne-based mobile ordering and payment platform created in 2018, announced today that Tiger Global led a $65 million USD Series financing. Commerce VC, VU Venture Partners, Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar and Kim Jackson through Skip Capital, San Antonio Spurs star Patty Mills and music ensemble Rüfüs Du Sol were among the other investors in the round. TEN13 and AirTree were among the returning investors.
Mr. Yum announced an $8 million USD post-seed investment in April, and its Series A financing increases the company’s total funding to $74 million (about $103 million AUD). Mr. Yum, which started in Melbourne, today has offices all around Australia, as well as in the United States and the United Kingdom. E.P., L.P., and Strings of Life in Los Angeles, as well as Magic Mike Live Las Vegas and Sahara Las Vegas, are among its clientele.
The business claims to have 13 million members and over 1,500 locations on its network, including shopping malls, movie theaters, and airports in addition to eateries. Its workforce has expanded from 12 to more than 120 full-time employees in the last 18 months, with offices in Los Angeles, London, Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne. According to Crunchbase data, this is the largest Series A in Australian history, as well as the largest Series A for an Australian female-led enterprise.
The startup’s objective, according to co-founder and CEO Kim Teo in an email to TechCrunch, is to “create ‘the Shopify for restaurants.'” “Menus hadn’t developed in hundreds of years,” she noted, “and consumers are visual and want to understand what they’re eating,” so Mr. Yum was born with the simple notion of “bringing menus to life with images of every dish.”
The company then expanded into mobile QR ordering, which, according to Teo, reduces administrative duties such as drafting orders, processing payments, and dividing bills. She goes on to say that restaurants that use Mr Yum have seen a 20 percent to 40 percent boost in average order value, with a monthly merchant turnover rate of less than 0.5 percent.
Teo stated, “We placed a large investment on QR codes early on.” “About three months before we started, we noticed that QR code scanners had been integrated into the iPhone camera, so we took it as an indication that they will become more extensively utilized.” Clearly, QR codes are already mainstream, and the last few years have saved us years of consumer education and any apprehension.”
Before the outbreak, Mr Yum was pushing his mobile ordering platform to companies, but the pandemic has hastened uptake. “The epidemic has had such a profound impact on the worldwide thinking and use of technology in the hotel and entertainment industries,” Teo added. She feels that this shift lasts since Mr Yum’s platform allows her to expand order amounts while also providing marketing and consumer analytics. One of them is Boomerang, a reward network that allows venues to produce gift coupons, free item codes, and dollar and percentage discounts.
Mr Yum also hopes to set itself apart from other QR ordering systems by integrating with partners such as Impact Data, Sprout, and Mailchimp, which Teo refers to as his “bread and butter.” It also features over 75 connectors with POS, marketing, and payment services like Square, Toast, and Deliverect. Mr Yum has collaboration with Afterpay in the dining area, and it has added a pay at table functionality to the platform, giving merchants additional freedom in how they use the platform with their consumers.
Mr Yum’s rivals differ depending on where it operates. Mr Yum, according to Teo, will continue to differentiate itself through product innovation such as Group Tabs and Advanced Batching, which allows several orders to print concurrently in kitchen bars and restaurants. Mr Yum received money again just a few months after its post-seed round because “startup financing rounds have expanded dramatically in size and frequency over the previous few years.” “It takes a lot of firepower to become a market leader in a category and maintain it over time,” she noted.
