The amount raised will be invested in developing the platform by adding fintech solutions and for international expansion, starting next spring.
This is the third and most significant investment attracted by ialoc – together with the amount attracted from MaxyGo Holding, with the company reaching a total funding of approximately EUR800,000. Before this investment, the company had secured about EUR300,000 in financing from GapMinder (2018), SeedBlink (2020) and Lister Capital.
ialoc is a platform launched in 2017 to manage online reservations in restaurants and cafes. The founders are Cosmin Magureanu, Emil Muhtu, Marcel Preda, Adrian Grigore and Dragos Badea.
By the end of 2023, the company wants to support more than 350 restaurants to become more efficient by digitizing the payment process at the table. Also, its founders aim for a turnover of EUR1 million in 2023.
MaxyGo Invest Holding SA is a company founded in January 2022 with 56 shareholders holding stakes between 0.8% and 16.7%, including Calin Ile – President of the Romanian Hotel Association. The company was founded by Alexandru Apostol and Luciana Apostol, both holding 12.9% of the shares. MaxyGo Invest Holding SA also owns 96% of MaxyGo Credit IFN securities, following an investment made at the beginning of 2022.
“We have invested in ialoc because we are convinced the hospitality industry will also embrace digitization. This segment is one of the least digitized in Romania and we have seen, for example, that in Western European countries technology has allowed restaurant owners to quickly adapt to the new status quo generated by the pandemic. We are convinced that ialoc can become a reference name, at least at regional level. For 2023, we want, first of all, to see sustained growth in the local market. Secondly, we expect to take the necessary steps to expand into external markets across the region“, said Mihai Apostol, representative of MaxyGo Invest Holding.
“The ialoc team was part of the first cohort of startups we chose within the acceleration programs developed by Techcelerator – in 2018. (…) Efficiency is essential in a global era of economic recovery, inflation, labor shortages, and supply chain uncertainty. With ialoc pay at the table – check out solution, restaurants may reduce by 20% the time spent by waiters serving customers. Experience is everything and the role of payments and fast check-out plays a great customer experience. We recently found ialoc team with this new solution in our Investment Readiness program, through which we support startups to attract SEED funding rounds of up to EUR1 million and we are proud that they are announcing their new round of EUR500.000”, stated Cristian Dascălu, Techcelerator co-founder & Gapminder partner.
After the customer scans the QR code related to the meal, they enter a customized landing page for each restaurant, where there is no need to create an account or download an app. The customer can access the digital menu, call the waiter, and, at the end, to avoid waiting for the bill, choose to pay online (card, Google Pay or Apple Pay) and add a tip for the staff. ialoc integrates with restaurants’ POS software to display the bill in real-time, and at the moment, it is integrated with five such solutions in the Romanian market.
Restaurants choose to implement quick payments at the table to save time and be able to focus on product quality and service. Customers save an average of 15 minutes at the end of each meal, and restaurant staff can run meals more efficiently while tipping increases by up to 30% compared to the classic option. The quick table payments solution was initially tested on 250 tables in a small circle of partner restaurants and processed more than 300,000 euros, representing approximately 28% of the total restaurant bills.
So far, the ialoc app has been downloaded by more than 100,000 customers, and in August 2022, ialoc seated approximately 34,500 customers at restaurant tables.