FoodTech Zapping : Tiller gets acquired, new dark stores and dark kitchens in France

💳 TILLER, A LEADING E-POS FRENCH STARTUPS IS ACQUIRED BY SUM UP

Tiller, a French restaurant ePOS startup, has been acquired by UK-based SumUp. Even if the operation is said to have not been influenced by Covid, it is easy to understand that Tiller has a complicated year after the closure of most of its clients (restaurants). SumUp is a Fintech and markets small card readers devices (like Square) to enable anyone to accept payments.

Other restaurant-oriented ePOS also have had a challenging year. For instance, Toast, the US leader made massive layoffs. This acquisition may be only the first of a larger (and much needed) movement of consolidation in this scattered ecosystem. Then, new leaders could become formidable competitors to incumbents.

🌑 🏪 DARK STORES AND DARK KITCHENS IN FRANCE

French Dark Kitchen Not So Dark raises €20M to fuel its expansion to open 30 new locations in 2021. In the meantime, a new venture, Cajoo, announces it has raised €6.6M and developed in stealth mode a dark store in Paris city center.

Dark Kitchens have emerged quite recently in France and are now highly commented. We can expect many new ventures and significant deals in the coming months. For Dark stores, Cajoo seems to be the winner of a speed race to be the first to launch in Paris. Retailers should be prepared to face this influx of newcomers, competing on subsidised 15minutes delivery.

SINCE YOU’RE HERE Ladurée, the globally known French macaroon retailer is for sale, who wants to buy it with me to create a macaroon unicorn? – Instacart next big move is on advertising, as a Mondelez executive quoted in the article says “retailers have let the fox in the henhouse, they should be scared” – France has a plan for plant-based proteins… but only for animal feed – Uber acquires alcohol delivery service Drizly for $1.1B, see here our article on how the startup made the most of the US lockdowns – I keep wandering in Clubhouse, and still don’t know what to think about it (the fact that everyone seems to find it extraordinary makes me even more doubtful). In the meantime, I have a couple of invites left, let me know if you want one – Vivino, the Denmark founded wine discovery, and ordering app has raised $155M, is it me or is online alcohol ordering may become the first grocery item to seriously shift online? – GoodEggs, one of our favourite startups to watch in the farm-to-home market has raised $100M to expand – DoorDash acquires Chowbotics, the salad-making robot, robots are eating the world, more on this next week. 💡Did we miss something interesting? Do you want a personalised deep dive? contact us!