Hospitality Engagement Platform Union Raises $22M in Series B Funding

UNION, a hospitality engagement platform, which has emerged as a post-pandemic silver lining for economically hard-hit high-volume bars and restaurants, has raised $22M in an oversubscribed Series B funding round which will be used to expand into all major US metro areas in 2022. With pre-pandemic levels of business remaining elusive in the US hospitality industry, UNION’s technology enables bars and restaurants to materially increase revenues, mitigate staffing shortages, serve more customers safely and quickly, and create a more personalized consumer experience. In addition to lead investor Clerisy, UNION’s Series B investors include new investors Roth Capital and Aquila Capital Partners and previous investors NEA, Wellington, Fiserv, and former CEO of WorldPay, Tony Catalfano.

UNION’s platform seamlessly combines the industry’s most powerful and reliable POS system, its pioneering mobile ordering/payment solution, and highly granular customer data to deliver a customized experience that allows venues to treat every patron like a VIP. Customers can order, reorder, tip, and pay via their mobile phones while receiving highly personalized product recommendations. UNION increases revenue by up to 30% while also improving the consumer experience by reducing their wait time by up to 80%. Over 600,000 consumers have used the UNION engagement platform in the last year.

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“UNION not only marries all of these elements together, but it also solves critical pain points and increases revenues for bar and restaurant owners. We see huge growth opportunities for UNION, which is literally the future of the hospitality industry.”

“The uniqueness of our platform is obvious just based upon the powerful financial clout of investors we attracted to our Series B. They know as well as we do that the very survival of the majority of restaurants and bars depends upon rapid adoption of technology that fully integrates the point of sale with consumers,” said Alex Broeker, founder and CEO, UNION. “The good news is that consumers today are very comfortable ordering everything digitally. What they are not comfortable with is waiting to be seated, waiting to order, and waiting for their check. UNION allows consumers to control their entire experience from their smartphones, from immediate contactless ordering to paying their bill whenever they are ready to leave. And because the system is fully integrated, we can also create highly personalized offers based upon the customer’s individual food and drink preferences to drive both loyalty and repeat business.”

Despite the glimmer of hope for economic recovery the upcoming holiday season presents, staffing shortages are preventing many bars and restaurants from capitalizing fully on the pent-up consumer demand for going out and having a good time. UNION’s contactless ordering and payment technology triples each server’s capacity, allowing more of the restaurant or bar to be open for business.

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UNION is the only cloud-based software system designed by food and beverage professionals themselves, specifically bespoke for the particular needs of high-volume bars and restaurants. Many POS systems have been engineered for a wide-range of hospitality businesses, from quick service to coffee shops, which may not see the same volume at scale that UNION has been designed to address. The system performs optimally at high speed whether one or one thousand checks are open, minimizing costly downtime and system failure.

“As the lines between physical and digital continue to blur, we know that consumers today want more control over all their experiences. The technologies that will win over consumers are the ones that create frictionless, fast, and personalized service,” said Lisa Myers, Clerisy Capital Co-Founder and Managing Partner. “UNION not only marries all of these elements together, but it also solves critical pain points and increases revenues for bar and restaurant owners. We see huge growth opportunities for UNION, which is literally the future of the hospitality industry.”

Colin Bryant, Partner, NEA added, ”UNION is building a treasure chest of data that will ultimately rewrite the economics of the entire POS industry by unlocking invaluable insights. The Company has been quietly at work building a nationwide footprint, and we are excited to be a part of the next stage of their growth.”