Zenchef Secures $50M Equity Investment to Fuel Growth

The French restaurant tech firm Zenchef Tuesday (Sept. 20) announced in a press release that it had secured an investment of over €50 million from PSG Equity.

Founded in 2011, Zenchef provides software solutions for restaurants that aim to enhance the customer experience and front-of-house operations. The company said that in 10 years it had managed nearly 50 million reservations for more than 7,000 restaurants.

Through Zenchef’s platform, which integrates reservation and venue management, website and digital menu management, marketing activities, click and collect and mobile payments, restaurants can control all their front-of-house operations from a single interface.

Zenchef, which is already available in more than 15 countries, including France, Belgium and Switzerland, intends to use the latest injection of capital to accelerate its growth in Europe.

The company also stated that it intended to develop “new B2B and B2C products to further strengthen its position within the restaurant tech sector.”

Commenting on the news, Zenchef CEO and Co-founder Xavier Zeitoun said “in PSG, we have found an ideal partner with a strong track record in accelerating growth for software companies.”

“With their strategic, operational and financial support, we are solidifying our ambition to become Europe’s champion. In our view, PSG will enable us to identify the relevant synergies to better serve restaurant owners and their customers, and help us pursue our ambitious recruitment plan.”

Last year, the firm launched a mobile payment solution called Zenchef Pay thanks to its acquisition of the FinTech startup Billee. Mobile payments are more critical than ever for the hospitality sector in general but are especially significant in the quick-service restaurant (QSR) space.

According to the PYMNTS Restaurant Readiness Index, which drew from a survey of more than 500 U.S. QSR and full-service restaurant managers, more than 50% of restaurants are now at least moderately dependent on digital channels to generate revenue.

Read more: More Than Half of Restaurants Depend on Digital Sales, Despite Uptick in On-Premises Orders

Zenchef intends to add to its mobile payment solution with a consumer mobile app, the company stated today. The app, planned for a launch this fall, will include various features that are intended to make the user’s experience more enjoyable, such as a geolocation service, themed restaurant rankings and reviews.

For all PYMNTS EMEA coverage, subscribe to the daily EMEA Newsletter.