Restaurant app Mr Yum swallows $89 million Series A led by Tiger Global

Hospitality-focused ordering and payments platform Mr Yum has raised an A$89 million in Series A led by leading US VC Tiger Global.

The deal is the country’s third-largest Series A and sets a new benchmark for a female-founded company in Australia.

It follows an $11 million post-Seed round just six months ago, taking the total raised beyond $100 million.

The Series A was also backed by Skip Capital, the family fund of Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar and his wife Kim Jackson, as well as Tennis Australia’s Wildcard Ventures, Broadsheet founder Nick Shelton and Kogan founder Ruslan Kogan. Existing backers TEN13 and AirTree followed-on with US-based Australian NBA star Patty Mills and musician Rüfüs Du Sol also putting cash on the table.

Mr Yum CEO and co-founder Kim Teo, who returned to Australia this week following an extended, Covid-impacted overseas trip, said the funds will accelerate the company’s global growth and the hospitality and entertainment industries rebuild globally after the pandemic.

“We couldn’t be more excited about the new partners that have joined our crusade. This round of capital allows us to triple down on our global lead on product innovation as we grow our teams across Australia, the UK and the US,” she said.

“Restaurants, hospitality and entertainment venues are embracing technology more than ever and our focus is building best-in-class tools to help them grow, in the same way Shopify has for retail.”

Mr Yum launched just three years ago in November 2018 and is now the world’s market-leading mobile ordering, payments and growth platform. As well as helping venues tackle staffing shortages as they emerge from lockdown, the app is also delivering bigger spends from customer orders compared to traditional table service.

Teao and her team have developed a toolkit beyond QR code ordering, that now offers payments, loyalty, marketing and customer insights.

Tiger Global partner John Curtius said his investment firm has invested heavily in restaurant technology around the world.

“We understand the category and players well and Mr Yum is the clear leader in product innovation for mobile ordering and payments,” he said

TEN13 managing partner and Mr Yum board member Stew Glynn said the platform provided a solution to the hospitality industry’s core issues around tight margins and rising costs.

“We’re excited to back Mr Yum for the third time with our largest cheque to date, showing the conviction that we have behind this team and the magic that they are creating,” he said.

“The co-founders have built a special culture which has enabled them to execute at pace and launch in two major markets in the US and UK with their unique product.”

The company has grown from 12 to more than 120 full-time staff in the past 18 months, with teams in Sydney, Brisbane, London, Los Angeles, the Philippines and the Melbourne headquarters.

Mr Yum has more than 1500 venues using the platform globally along with 13 million users.