By RTN Staff - 7.28.2021
All-in-one software solution provider Notch has closed a $10 million round of financing led by Accomplice and BDC with participation from MATH Venture Partners, Golden Ventures, The Yield Lab, Garage Capital and Plexo Capital as well as angel investors Agman, Mark MacLeod, Paul Genier, Shannon Lambert, and Jean Genier. The company raised $12.6 million in Series A funding in 2018.
Launched in 2017, the Toronto-based startup in May of this year changed its name from ChefHero and rejiggered its business model (which was mainly focused on providing a marketplace to connect buyers and sellers) and go-to-market messaging. The company now bills itself as “the first and only technology platform to completely digitize wholesale food supply ordering for restaurants and distributors.”
“The restaurant industry has largely focused on front of house technology when in fact cost savings start with eliminating waste within the wholesale food supply ordering process. Restaurants across North America have come to rely on Notch to solve this problem quickly and seamlessly,” said Jordan Huck, the company’s CEO.
As restaurants re-open and increasingly look to eliminate inefficiencies and food waste, Notch reports that it is working to fulfill pent up demand from the pandemic with company sales and revenue increasing by more than 450 per cent since April 2020. According to a company press statement, the new round of capital will enable the company to bring the supply chains of more restaurant chains and food brands online. It will also fund ongoing innovation, be used to attract and retain world class talent and for continued US expansion.
Notch Pay, an automated payment and collection solution for restaurants and distributors is reportedly in development. The platform currently includes Notch Marketplace, relied on by nearly 1,500 restaurants across North America to shop and price compare more than 100,000 wholesale food supply skus, invoice, track orders, receive real time inventory updates, and forecast. Hundreds of food distributors are using Notch Connect to digitize their order desks to enable online purchasing and connect with new customers.
Notch currently operates in Chicago, Texas and Toronto, and is focused on rapid growth in 2021 with recent talented sales hires from Uber and DoorDash heading up US expansion. According to the press statement, the company will continue to prioritize talent acquisition with the Notch team nearly doubling in size over the last 12 months.
“Notch has identified the pain points in the foodservice supply chain. As the world emerges from the pandemic, Notch is bringing the infrastructure needed to transform how restaurants manage their business to be more efficient and profitable,” said Lo Toney, Managing Partner, Plexo Capital.
Notch is helping the foodservice industry bring efficiency to the back of house for franchises and restaurant groups across North America including Ghost Kitchen Brands which is currently in the process of opening 70 locations across the US, Dark Matter Coffee, Carnitas Uruapan, Al’s Beef, and SummerHouse Santa Monica, Paramount Fine Foods, Sapsucker, Gusto 54 Group, Banh Mi Boys, and more.
“Notch has made our transition to their product easy and seamless, allowing me and my team to focus on opening locations and adding brands with the confidence and knowledge we’ve brought our supply chain online. This product is key to helping us scale from 50 to over 1000 locations in the US next year,” Marc Choy, President, Ghost Kitchen Brands.
The new funding round comes on the heels of several other recent investments, including raises of $100 million for Choco, $27 million for Zenput and $7.4 million for 86 Repairs, focused on back-of-house operations as restaurant owners and operators seek to reduce costs and improve efficiencies.
