As the appetite for catered meals continues to grow worldwide, ezCater delivered its biggest funding round yet, raising a mouthwatering $150 million.
The Series D follows the $100 million funding round the business catering service raised last June, and brings its total to $320 million.
Lightspeed Venture Partners and GIC led this round, with participation from Light Street Capital and existing investors Wellington Management Company, ICONIQ Capital and more.
EzCater plans to use the funds to continue its global expansion, add tools to its software platform and hire 300 more employees in 2019. It aims to grow its senior team, along with programmers, salespeople and customer service members.
“I love the possibilities that it opens up for us,” said Stefania Mallett, ezCater’s CEO and co-founder. “It’s great validation. It’s exciting to see people who welcome what we accomplished and who are willing to back us to accomplish a lot more.”
The company built up momentum after its last funding round, acquiring the France-based catering platform, GoCater, in July 2018. EzCater also bought up MonkeySoftSolutions, whose software provides restaurants with training and insights, in March 2019.
The acquisitions gave ezCater an international foothold and provided its restaurants with additional tools to support growing catering demands. The company is also on par to double its year-over-year revenue for the eighth straight year.
That growth has given ezCater a recipe to follow for future success overseas, Mallett said.
“France is our beachhead,” Mallett said. “So going deeper into France is our first priority, and expanding into other countries using the playbook we developed for France is next.”
Since launching in Boston in 2007, ezCater now connects hungry businesspeople across the U.S. and internationally to more than 60,000 local restaurants and chains.
After nearly doubling its total funding this year, Mallett said she is excited about what’s next.
“We’re proud of where we’ve gotten to,” Mallett said. “And we’re as excited about the next 12 years as we were the previous 12 years.”
