QR Code food ordering: the Aussie startup's $11m global announcement
- Written by Will York
A bevvy of Australia’s leading hospitality figures have gotten behind mobile ordering startup Mr Yum by joining other leading identities in the company’s $11 million dollars post seed investment round. Hospitality investors have backed Mr.Yum heavily due to its QR code style ordering system proven to increase customer spending significantly by 20-40%. Industry investors include Australian Venue Co, and Myles Munro and Daragh Kan from 100 Burgers Group. The $11M investment round was led by Brisbane venture firm TEN13, with AirTree taking the other major position. High profile representatives from the entertainment industry were also keen backers.
The past 12 months have seen an astronomical 27x business growth for the Aussie startup, now at 65 full-time staff and processing hundreds of millions in food and beverage transactions, with over 10M global users. The company’s success has been cemented with major contracts being secured with brands like Sydney Airport and Magic Mike Live (AUS & USA), and international venues such as Sahara Casino in Las Vegas and Clapham Leisure Group in the UK.
Leading a digital evolution for the hospitality industry since 2018, Mr Yum has proven to be one of Australia’s best solutions for over 1100 venues. Mr Yum’s mobile QR code ordering removes the “admin” side of service, freeing up hospitality staff for more quality interaction with guests. By scanning a Mr Yum QR code, the web-based platform allows customers to register for contact-tracing, then order food and drinks, and pay via their smartphones, which then arrives directly to their table or seat. No app required!
Mr Yum has a proven track record in helping venues increase average customer spend by 20-40% while also streamlining operations. It does so with its sleek web platform that allows menu items to jump from the page with beautiful imagery. Orders from Mr Yum are received as normal for venues, seamlessly integrated with their point-of-sale, ensuring there is no change to the operations.
“We’ve been strategic in choosing investors who have a proven track record for global expansion. On top of TEN13 and AirTree, our partners are highly respected hospitality, entertainment and tech leaders.” These include Australian Venue Co, Myles Munro and Daragh Kan from 100 Burgers Group, Untitled Group (Australia's largest independently-owned music and events company), UNIFIED Music Group (Artist Management, Record Labels, Merchandising, Touring and Publishing), Patty Mills (NBA star), Tom Richardson MD APAC at Invision, Linktree founders Anthony Zaccaria, Alex Zaccaria and Nick Humphreys, Andrew Banks (Shark Tank), acclaimed angel investor Matt Allen and electronic dance act, Rüfüs Du Sol.
“With these top-tier investors in our corner and the traction we’ve gained over the past 12 months, we’ve created a really strong base to build from - but we’re only just getting started. Our Series A investment round is also in the works, which will allow us to keep pushing the boundaries on product innovation and fuel our global expansion,” Kim added.
“We’ve grown rapidly in Australia, and we will now use this leadership position to establish a foot-print in the UK and the US. The industry is hurting from what’s happened in the past year - our mission is to give them the best tools available to recover and grow, in the same way Shopify did for the retail industry during the last market collapse,” said Kim Teo, CEO and Co-Founder at Mr Yum.
“As part of the financing, lead investor TEN13’s Stew Glynn recently joined Mr Yum’s board.
Mr Glynn mentioned that they "saw early that Kim, Adrian, Kerry & Andrei had built a special product offering leveraging the power of QR codes to deliver a unique and improved dining experience. Mr Yum's offering has been especially powerful for venues and industry workers - allowing them to return stronger post lockdowns. We’re now watching Mr Yum expand into wider verticals like stadiums, airports, shopping malls, festivals and more, and already closing significant contracts within their global launch markets."
Leading this investment round represents the largest deal completed by TEN13's venture syndicate to date and Mr Glynn said "we're very excited to support a quality team like Mr Yum and their ambitious plans. Plus, our significant syndicate investor support is a credit to the potential of the company - its great culture, exciting product and growth of the business."
AirTree Partner, James Cameron, commented, “We’re thrilled to partner with the Mr Yum team to support the evolution of the hospitality and entertainment industry. Mr Yum is one of the fastest growing startups we’ve ever worked with. And, what’s more impressive is that the majority of that growth has come from organic, word of mouth acquisition. This is what happens when you build a product that makes businesses more profitable, but also makes their customers rave about the experience to their friends.”
For more information, visit https://www.mryum.com/
