THE INTELLIGENCE
Food ordering tech company becomes Ireland’s newest unicorn
Dublin-headquartered Flipdish, which provides technology for creating food ordering apps, closed an €87m investment round in January, bringing the company’s value to €1bn and adding it to 2022’s growing list of European unicorns. Chinese tech group Tencent led the round, highlighting growing investor interest in companies serving the home delivery sector, which has benefited from consumers turning to online ordering during the many lockdowns over the past two years. Already operating in 25 countries worldwide, including France, Germany, Ireland, Spain, the UK and the US, Flipdish has both well-known brands and independent restaurants as customers. The start-up also works with some of the world’s largest ghost kitchen companies. Conor McCarthy, co-Founder and CEO of Flipdish, said: “Digitization has been transforming the hospitality sector for years. The ongoing pandemic has further accelerated the trend with hospitality businesses becoming increasingly dependent on digital experiences to attract and retain customers. Our investment will help us to empower more hospitality businesses around the world to grow with the best-in-class technology.”
Compass Group UK & Ireland has unveiled plans to launch its first fully ‘frictionless’ store in a workplace in early 2022. A first for the foodservice sector, it is set to open in Ireland, followed by additional sites in the UK over the next year, including units within other corporate clients and in the sports and leisure and defence sectors. The new stores will utilise AiFi’s AI-powered computer vision
technology, which allows shoppers to purchase items in-store without having to wait in line or stop to scan or pay. Customers ‘check in’ when entering. They are then tracked anonymously by computer vision cameras, which adds their
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selected items to a virtual shopping cart. No facial recognition or biometrics are used, and a receipt is delivered directly to the customer’s phone moments after they leave. The stores will typically stock a selection of both hot and chilled grab-n-go dishes, drinks and confectionery. They will be utilized either at sites where vending-only solutions exist currently, or where the new format can be included as a part of suite of options for the client, looking for a mix of self-service and serviced meal options. Compass employees will remain on hand to provide support to customers on site.
AI-powered ‘frictionless’ store to open in Compass Group workplace this year
For more go to
fcsi.org
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