Edenred et al. in €6m round for Zenchef

José Rojo
05 November 2015

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1001Menus, a French provider of online services for the restaurants industry, has rebranded to Zenchef after raising €6m from VCs Edenred Capital Partners, XAnge Private Equity, German corporate Metro Group and its existing investor base.

The round was led by Edenred Capital Partners and XAnge Private Equity. While neither VC disclosed their contribution, the former typically invests a minimum of €1m and the latter deploys €3-4m per deal.

Investing alongside the VCs were German distributor Metro Group and Zenchef's previous backers such as Elaia Partners, L'Accélérateur Capital Partners, Kima Ventures and a number of business angels.

The fresh funds will be dedicated to Zenchef's European expansion plans, already outlined during the previous institutional round for the company in November 2013.

Currently servicing 2,500 restaurants in France, Spain and the UK, the business is looking to hit the 25,000 client mark and grow tenfold by 2018. The strategy involves 35 new hires in the marketing, sales, finance and IT areas to push headcount up to 80 over the next 12 months.

Previous funding
In December 2012, Zenchef, then named 1001Menus, received €300,000 in early-stage capital from VC Kima, L'Accélérateur and several individual investors.

According to unquote" data, this was followed by a €1.35m series-A led by Elaia in November 2013. The round featured capital from existing investors l'Accélérateur, Frédéric Montagnon and Jean-Marc Bouhélier, as well as new backers Jacques-Antoine Granjon, Michel de Guilhermier and Gilles Samoun.

Company
Created in 2011, Zenchef handles online communications and outreach for restaurants. With headquarters in Paris, the business works with clients in France, Spain and the UK, and claims its services boost revenues by an average of €3,000 every month for every establishment. Employing a workforce of around 45 people, the business foresees to end 2015 with a €2m turnover figure.

People
Philippe Dufour, director of alternative investments at Edenred, led the deal for the VC. XAnge was represented by associate director Cyril Bertrand. Xavier Zeitoun, Thomas Zeitoun and Julien Balmont co-founded Zenchef, the former being its current CEO.

Advisers
Equity – Clipperton Finance, Nicolas von Bulow, Antoine Ganancia (Corporate finance); SLV&F Avocats (Legal).
Company – McDermott Will & Emery (Legal).