Dinii, a cloud-based restaurant management platform based in Japan, has raised $48 million (7.46 billion JPY) in a Series B funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Hillhouse Investment Management, with participation from Eclectic and Flight Deck Capital. This marks Bessemer’s first investment in a Japanese startup. Founded in 2018 by Mao Yamada and Kazuki Otomo, Dinii aims to modernize the restaurant industry by offering a low-cost, cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) system that eliminates the need for specialized hardware, a crucial aspect in an industry that often operates on thin margins.
Dinii initially gained traction with its POS solution, which enables restaurants to use existing mobile devices for order processing and payment handling. Yamada, Dinii’s CEO, highlighted plans to expand the platform’s capabilities, aiming to provide additional services such as employee management, restaurant reservations, and food delivery. Dinii also seeks to enhance its financial services offering, starting with its existing Dinii Payments system. Future plans include back-office support such as invoice settlement, inventory management, and salary payouts, including a proposal to offer daily payouts to part-time restaurant employees.
The company draws inspiration from U.S.-based Toast, a restaurant management platform that Bessemer also supported, and Yamada emphasized that no company in Japan currently matches Dinii’s ability to offer comprehensive data and financial services for restaurants. Bryan Wu from Bessemer Venture Partners noted similarities between Toast’s growth in the U.S. and Dinii’s potential in Japan, citing the young and visionary leadership and the platform’s expansive opportunity in an underserved market.
Japan’s restaurant industry primarily relies on on-site POS systems from companies like Toshiba and NEC, which are often expensive and lack modern functionalities such as mobile ordering and cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM). Dinii’s cloud-based platform addresses these gaps, allowing restaurants to gather and analyze customer data, track popular menu items, and engage with customers using a CRM system. Dinii’s integration with Line, a popular messaging app, allows restaurants to collect valuable customer data such as dining preferences and visit history.
Dinii generates revenue through software subscription fees and transaction fees from cashless payments processed via its platform. The Japanese restaurant industry includes more than 900,000 establishments, with the market expected to grow to approximately $475 billion by 2030. Currently, Dinii serves around 3,000 restaurants, representing less than 0.5% market penetration, indicating significant growth potential.
Expansion to Southeast Asia
With over 20 million registered users making orders through its platform, Dinii processes a high volume of data, which the company is leveraging to develop proprietary solutions for restaurants. Alongside its operations in Tokyo and Osaka, the startup plans to expand to other Japanese cities and countries in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.
Since its inception, Dinii has raised approximately $55 million (8 billion JPY), with previous investors including ANRI and Coral Capital. The company’s workforce has grown from 30 employees in 2022 to 130, with further expansion planned as it broadens its geographic reach.
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