OLO, the fastest-growing digital commerce engine for restaurants, announced a $5 million dollar Series B financing from PayPal and existing investors.
The New York–based company is hiring as it aggressively scales operations for a breakout year in 2013.
OLO allows customers to order and pay from restaurant websites and mobile apps, so that they can “Skip the Line” at the restaurant of their choosing. OLO transmits the prepaid order directly to the restaurant point-of-sale (POS) system.
The company has recently seen a surge in mobile ordering from existing clients on its platform, with hundreds of restaurants receiving more than 50 percent of digital orders through mobile.
OLO is committed to serving as an open and independent commerce platform that allows restaurants to choose whichever payment types they would like to accept, a common carrier for digital commerce.
OLO accepts all major credit cards, many stored-value cards, and digital wallet providers.
"OLO is already profitable and is taking on this Series B funding round to scale up in the fast-growing digital commerce market," says Noah Glass, founder and CEO of OLO. "As our existing restaurant clients are seeing the majority of digital transactions ordered by smartphone, new restaurant brands are getting excited about digital commerce.”
OLO just reached 2 million end users, including customers from such restaurant giants as Five Guys Burgers & Fries and Cold Stone Creamery, doubling its total user base in less than 12 months.
The company expects to announce a series of large chain deals in Q1 2013, in addition to recent deals with chains such as Dickey's Barbecue Pit, Noodles & Co., and Veggie Grill from the last quarter.
“As consumers embrace mobile as the everyday way to shop and pay, companies like OLO are helping brands like Cold Stone Creamery and Five Guys Burgers & Fries to harness the power of mobile commerce,” says Hill Ferguson, vice president of global product for PayPal. “With OLO, restaurants have an innovative way to accept prepaid online and mobile orders and reduce waiting times for their customers. We are excited about the opportunities ahead for OLO and PayPal.”
Since the company’s founding in June 2005, OLO has raised $13.75 million in total funding from David Frankel (who seeded OLO and is now managing partner at Founder Collective), RRE Ventures, Core Capital Partners, and PayPal.
