Quandoo raises fifth funding round

Harriet Bailey
28 October 2014

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RGIP, the corporate venture arm of Recruit Holdings of Japan, has injected capital into VC-backed restaurant reservation software provider Quandoo.

RGIP used its investment fund RGIP LLC to finance the deal. Quandoo stated its intention to use the capital to have a presence in 20 countries by the beginning of 2015, as well as for improvements to the reservation platform.

Quandoo cited RGIP's knowledge of the Asian markets as a powerful driver for the deal, as it hopes to grow in the region.

According to the company, the restaurant reservation sector is ripe for growth, with only 2% of all restaurant reservations currently made online or via mobile apps.

In May this year, Tokyo-based Recruit Holdings established its corporate venture arm, RGIP. It has ¥4.5bn (€33m) to invest in areas such as HR, travel, restaurants, beauty and housing. Earlier this month, RGIP took part in a $26m funding round for hair and beauty booking platform Wahanda.

Previous funding
In July this year, Quandoo raised its fourth funding round, led by Piton Capital. Existing backers Holtzbrinck Ventures, DN Capital, Texas Atlantic Capital, the Sixt family (owners of German car rental company Sixt) and other early investors also participated in the €25m round.

January 2014 saw the company raise an €8m series-B funding round from DN and Holtzbrinck, enabling Quandoo to enter new markets in Europe. A series-A round was raised in June 2013 from Atlantic Capital Partners, Holtzbrinck and the Sixt family, according to unquote" data. It is also understood to have raised a seed funding round in February 2013 from Atlantic, the Sixt family and several business angels.

Company
Founded in 2012, Berlin-headquartered Quandoo has developed a real-time reservation platform for restaurants in Europe. It has a network of 3,800 partner restaurants across 88 cities in nine countries, including the UK, Turkey, Italy and Austria.

The business provides customers with a range of dining options from Michelin-starred restaurants to local businesses. Restaurant managers are able to use the reservation management system to engage with customers. The company, with 225 staff, has so far seated 2.8 million diners.

People
Philipp Magin, Ronny Lange, Tim-Hendrik Meyer and Sebastian Moser are managing directors of Quandoo. Kazumasa Watanabe led the deal for RGIP.

Advisors
Equity – Arqis, Christoph von Einem, Shigeo Yamaguchi, Eberhard Hafermalz, Tobias Brors, Patrick Schöldgen, Laura Brauers (M&A; Financial due diligence); TMI Associates (Legal).