Thailand-based omni-channel ordering and payments platform Papaya has successfully secured a new round of funding led by venture capital firm BEENEXT, with participation from A2D Ventures.
This marks a significant milestone for the startup, which aims to revolutionize the hospitality industry in Southeast Asia. Previous investors Global Founders Capital and The MBA Fund also contributed to this round.
Founded in mid-2022 by Kush Sodhia, Haakon Brekke, and Julian Timings, Papaya leverages the founders’ extensive industry experience.
Sodhia and Brekke previously collaborated at Boston Consulting Group on consumer and food retail projects across Southeast Asia, with Brekke also having experience at Zalora.
Timings, who founded and sold food startup Polpa to Pop Meals, brings technical expertise to the team.
“The hospitality industry was one of the hardest hit during COVID-19, and recovery has been slow,” said Sodhia, CEO of Papaya. “Sales are only now starting to hit pre-COVID levels, and there is still a 35% staff shortage across the industry in Southeast Asia. The industry has also lagged in understanding customers in a data-driven way. We founded Papaya to help operators use technology to solve these problems and are excited to have BEENEXT and A2D Ventures as new partners on this journey.”
Papaya’s platform allows hospitality operators to grow sales by an average of 20% while reducing staff workload by up to 30%.
The digital ordering and payments platform enables customers to dine at their own pace, with insights provided back to merchants to enhance the customer experience.
Papaya differentiates itself with a completely web-based and cloud-based solution that can operate on any existing hardware, eliminating the high upfront adoption costs associated with new POS systems.
“It’s 2024; operators shouldn’t be forced down a niche hardware route. They should be able to access their operation and data live on their tablet in their restaurant, laptop at home, or phone on the go,” said Haakon Brekke, COO of Papaya.
Since its launch, Papaya has gained traction among cafes and restaurants across Thailand, including Tim Hortons, Bartels, Fatboy Izakaya, The Commons, Vistro, and Okasan.
With the new funding, Papaya plans to expand its operations to Singapore, enhance its technology infrastructure, and invest in marketing efforts to grow its merchant base.
Business News Asia