Toast Raises $101M In VC Funding; To Hire 1,000 Workers

Toast, a Boston tech startup that develops point-of-sale software for restaurants, raised $101 million in a venture capital (VC) funding round.

According to a news report, the funding round was led by Generation Investment Management, a firm co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore, and New York-based Lead Edge Capital. Other investors include previous backer Bessemer Venture Partners. The company plans to use the venture capital funds to expand by hiring 1,000 people around the country during the next year and a half. Toast raised $30 million in a VC round early last year from Google Ventures, which is now known as GV.

“The restaurant industry has historically been slower than others to adopt technology, leading to operational inefficiencies and missed opportunities. Advances in hardware, software and cloud computing are shifting that dynamic,” Greg Wasserman, a partner at Generation Investment Management, said in the report. “Toast is leading this digital shift with its powerful, yet easy-to-deploy platform that is democratizing access to best-in-class technology.” 

According to the report, Toast has 500 employees around the country with around half working at the tech startup’s headquarters. In April, it confirmed news that it will be expanding from 37,500 square feet to 81,000 square feet.

In May, mobile takeout and delivery marketplace Grubhub just recently announced its integration with two leading restaurant point-of-sale (POS) systems, Breadcrumb and Toast. Restaurants using these POS systems will now be able to manage the full scope of their orders — from in-house to takeout and delivery — from a single device. The goal, by streamlining this key aspect of restaurant management, is to enable restaurants to deliver more orders without an excess of additional effort, steps and devices to monitor — leading to cost savings, especially at high-volume locations.

“We’re completely focused on creating technology that enhances the experience of our restaurant partners,” said Stan Chia, chief operating officer of Grubhub at the time. “With restaurant feedback in mind, we’ve built integrations designed to create efficiencies for restaurateurs.”