Jubilee Capital Management Backs US F&B Technology Startup Menusifu

Singapore-based Jubilee Capital Management has joined Amino Capital in a US$3 million Series A investment into New York-based Menusifu. Menusifu is a leading provider of next generation software solutions that allow restaurants to cater to mobile-first customers. It has grown by well over 250 percent since 2014.

With the US restaurant industry representing nearly US$800 billion in annual spending in the US, technology to improve all aspects of restaurant operations has attracted US$2.5 billion from investors since 2012. 

JCM co-founder and Chinese entrepreneur Stanley Zhang said, “We focus on innovative tech startups with strong cross-border potential. We were drawn to Menusifu’s vision to bring a new standard of restaurant management to the US, by equipping traditional restaurants with forward looking technologies to optimise operations and engage digital consumers. Menusifu bridges the gap between the traditional dining culture and new millennial habits, and empowers restaurants to transition to the digital era.”

Menusifu provides fast food and full-service restaurants with a comprehensive cloud-based point of sale platform that increases efficiency, reduces costs and improves customer engagement. Menusifu helps F&B operators achieve this by streamlining and digitising the restaurant back and front-end processes—from supply chain management to online ordering platforms, from dine-in self-management tools to marketing services and data analytic reporting.

Menusifu’s platform also provides a mobile payment solution integrated with China’s two biggest mobile payment applications, Alipay and WeChat Pay, as well as loyalty programmes on social media and app platforms.

Stanley explained, “Menusifu’s solutions address not only the increasing digital transformation of the restaurant business, but a key opportunity in China’s burgeoning outbound market—over 100 million Chinese tourists, business travellers, and students abroad annually. Menusifu brings a slice of home to Chinese consumers abroad through familiar customer experiences such as table-side mobile payment, the use of QR codes and mobile apps to facilitate ordering and transactions, and the ability to pay with Chinese currency, withdrawn directly from their bank account or digital wallet. With strong potential to expand their solutions beyond the US, Menusifu fits well with JCM’s strategy to capture first mover solutions in the fast-growing market of China going global.”

Chinese consumers have far surpassed their counterparts in developed markets in adoption of new technologies such as mobile payments. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce reported that 441 million people use mobile devices to buy goods and services, with an annual growth rate of 29.8%. According to EY and DBS, by the end of 2015, 40 per cent of Chinese consumers were using new payment methods, compared to only 4 per cent in Singapore. The US had less than 20% of smartphone users making mobile payments in 2016.

“With such drastic differences in the way that technology can disrupt local markets, JCM’s strength comes from using our global perspective, cross-border network, and entrepreneurial expertise to evaluate and benchmark innovations across markets as diverse as China and the US. We are interested in solutions to problems that manifest in multiple markets, whether it is in New Zealand, the US, or Singapore, and experienced entrepreneurs who can solve pain points that large companies cannot fix,” Stanley concluded.

With teams in Beijing, Southeast Asia, and the US working with a network of partners around the world, JCM targets leading tech startups that are at the forefront of delivering innovative, disruptive solutions in their industry—including financial services, travel, urban, lifestyle and other sectors—across different markets.

Since the announcement of the first close of the Jubilee Tech Fund, JCM has invested in three companies: Singapore-based Spark Systems that speeds up forex trading for institutional investors at reduced trading costs; Auckland-based Latipay which provides a fast, easy and secure platform for Chinese customers to pay for New Zealand products in yuan while New Zealand sellers are paid in kiwi dollars; and Start which moved their Singapore peer-to-peer car rental platform to a premium, lifestyle upgrade car sharing platform in Beijing.

Established in 2015, JCM was founded by three senior entrepreneurs from China who bring over 50 years of combined experience in strategic investment and operational management experience in the Internet, IT, telecom, media, and consumer sectors in Asia.