Lunchbox closed a $50 million Series B investment that will allow the New York-based platform offering online ordering, integrations and marketing for restaurants and ghost kitchens to accelerate its research and development efforts.
The eight-figure investment round was led by Coatue, with participation from existing investors Primary and 645 Ventures, as well as executives from DoorDash, Sweetgreen and &pizza. It’s not the first high-profile investment for the company known for its anti-third-party rhetoric. Back in October of 2020, Lunchbox completed a Series A that brought $20 million into its doors.
Since that time, Lunchbox has saved restaurants over $35 million that would have otherwise gone to third-party ordering platforms—which has been a key part of its selling point to the industry. Its clients include Bareburger, Clean Juice, Fuku, Little Sesame, Sticky’s Finger Joint, and Tacombi.
This announcement comes on the heels of Lunchbox’s acquisition of Spread, an online marketplace that connects restaurants with diners. Lunchbox has also created a digital food hall with C3 that allows restaurant groups to create an experience where guests can order from multiple brands in one cart.
The new funds will accelerate product research and development to meet an increased demand for brand-first restaurant technology. The company currently offers a suite of products including: web and app ordering, loyalty programs, channel marketing, and Lunchbox Studio. In late 2021, Lunchbox unveiled new products built for ghost and virtual kitchens. This new funding will also be used to bring on top-tier talent to elevate across departments.
“We’ve built a transformative food tech company by creating products designed by restaurateurs for restauranteurs,” said Lunchbox co-founder and CEO Nabeel Alamgir. “The pandemic forced restaurants to understand and quickly adapt to new technologies in order to stay afloat and we’re here to help. At its core, Lunchbox is committed to building exceptional tools that will help restaurants everywhere.”
In conjunction with the funding, Lunchbox is announcing a new member to its executive leadership team. Kieran Luke was named as chief operating officer at the start of the year to oversee all operation functions and products across the organization. Kieran was previously chief operating officer at General Assembly, where he focused on providing enterprise clients with assessment and training products.
“The last three years have been very exciting for Lunchbox. We have been following them since 2019 and we have been continually impressed by Nabeel’s far-reaching vision,” said Rahul Kishore, senior managing director of Coatue. “We believe that the key differentiating factor between Lunchbox and other companies is its ability to create engaging and long-lasting relationships between brands. We’re so proud of the team’s accomplishments and we’re looking forward to helping them scale and revolutionize the restaurant industry.”
Brad Svrluga, general partner and co-founder of Primary, a continued strategic investor in Lunchbox said, “There was one thing that immediately stood out to us from Lunchbox’s earliest days: this team has a unique and compelling commitment to being a truly aligned partner to their restaurateur customers. While other delivery platforms take a pound of flesh with delivery fees and gate-keep valuable customer data, Lunchbox’s flat monthly fees and transparent data sharing, analysis, and remarketing tools truly help restaurants grow their profits, not just their top line. We knew this was special back when the team was just six people; we never in a million years could have predicted how COVID-19 would create the urgent need for this exceptional product nor how consumers would become so accustomed to getting fast, frictionless delivery.”
