Düsseldorf, Germany, 2016-May-16 — /EPR Retail News/ — METRO GROUP acquires a stake in the Berlin-based start-up orderbird, the leading iPad based point of sale system for restaurants in the DACH region. With this move, METRO GROUP underscores its commitment to digitalisation in the hospitality sector. By investing into yet another start-up with digital solutions for restaurants, METRO GROUP consistently pursues its policy of becoming a one stop shop partner for its customers from the hotel and restaurant business.
“With this partnership, orderbird and METRO pursue a common goal: making restaurant businesses more successful with the help of digital solutions”, says Olaf Koch, Chairman of the Management Board of METRO AG. “By acquiring a stake in orderbird, we are taking another important step towards our goal of offering value added for our customers through digital solutions. In this process, we will contribute both our industry expertise and our access to a large custom base.”
The Berlin-based start-up orderbird is the leading provider of iPad based POS systems for restaurants in the German-speaking region. No matter whether they want to place orders, cancel or rebook them: with orderbird, restaurant operators and their service staff can quickly and conveniently take orders with mobile devices, flexibly split bills and create tax-authority-compliant reports. The orderbird POS software runs on the mobile Apple devices iPad, iPod touch and iPhone. It can therefore replace both the conventional cash register on the bar counter and also the server’s paper order blocks with modern and networked technologies. Immediate forwarding of the order data makes it possible for restaurants to offer a faster and more accurate service. This enhances customer loyalty and satisfaction. In addition, a large number of structured, real-time reports allow for the continuous optimisation of one’s own business in every application scenario.
As new shareholders and strategic partners, METRO GROUP and the growth equity investor Digital+ Partners invest a total of €16.5 million into orderbird AG. In the framework of a secondary investment, the current investor Concardis participates in this funding round by acquiring shares from existing investors. orderbird thus holds a €20 million funding round. Together with its strategic partners and the freshly collected capital, the Berlin-based start-up plans to further drive product development and its expansion into the European market. The planned market entry into France this year marks the starting point for further growth.
METRO GROUP with its sales line METRO Cash & Carry, which operates in 25 countries worldwide and offers access to 21 million active wholesale customers, is an important partner for the further growth of orderbird. These customers will benefit from the digital services for their own businesses. To promote digitalisation in the hotel and restaurant business, METRO launched a support programme entitled “METRO Accelerator powered by Techstars” for start-ups offering digital solutions for the HoReCa sector already back in 2015.
METRO GROUP is one of the most important international retailing companies. It generated sales of some €59 billion in financial year 2014/15. The company operates over 2,000 locations in 29 countries and employs more than 220,000 people. The performance ofMETRO GROUP is based on the strength of its sales brands, which act independently on the market: METRO/MAKRO Cash & Carry, the international leader in the self-service wholesale trade; Media Markt and Saturn, the European market leader in consumer electronics retailing; and Real hypermarkets.
orderbird (www.orderbird.com) is the provider of the multiple award winning tablet POS system for restaurant businesses. Whether ordering, cancelling or rebooking – with the orderbird POS, restaurant operators and service staff can fast and conveniently take orders with their mobile device, use flexible payments options, and create GDPdU-compliant financial reports. With more than 5,500 customers – restaurants, cafes, bars, clubs, ice cream parlours and beer gardens – the orderbird POS ranks among the most popular POS systems of its kind in the restaurant sector in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Great Britain and Ireland. The orderbird AG was founded in 2011 by Jakob Schreyer, Bastian Schmidtke, Patrick Brienen and Artur Hasselbach and today has a headcount of 120+ employees.
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