Meal Vouchers: Another Funding Round for Lunchr
Four months ago, Lunchr made changes to their strategy and started focusing on the BtoB sector for luncheon vouchers. In line with these changes, the Montpellier-based start-up successfully closed two funding round over the past twelve months. Their latest €11 million roundtable from ID Invest and Daphni, Paris-based Marie Ekeland venture capital.
Lunchr intends to outrun long-standing luncheon vouchers issuers, which accounts for the addition of a companion payment card for their online meal ordering app in January this year.
Their strategic shift has been operational since February. The “FoodTech” now claims more than 600 customer companies and aims to attract 100,000 users by 2019. They also report that their users benefited from roughly 18% in discounts since their service was launched.
Lunchr expects to increase their workforce threefold by the end of the year: from 20 to 60 employees, and up to 100 staff members in 2019. The new funding round should fuel their R&D developments and secure their customer base prior to an international launch.
Comments – Lunchr also bets paperless services
More than 30% of the employees in France with access to meal vouchers now have a dedicated payment card or rely on their mobile phone at checkout: this proportion increased fast over the past few months and should keep growing. In fact, in January, the French Labour Ministry announced that paper versions of the meal vouchers should no longer be available by 2020. Lunchr then enjoys a rather favourable regulatory context, as they could be able to assist companies through the overall luncheon vouchers’ dematerialisation process/transition.
They expect to stand out with their Mastercard-affiliated product accepted globally, unlike most of the cards proposed by long-standing players –which require partner restaurants to update their software regularly.
Just like Resto Flash and Monetico Resto, Lunchr bets on a digital approach to reach out for a market monopolised by companies such as Sodexo, Up or Edenred (whose share price has been quite affected when Lunchr disclosed their funding round). This new entrant intends to outpace serious challengers via focusing on dematerialisation.