Upserve
 | This article contains promotional content. (September 2013) |
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Point of sale |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Headquarters | Providence, Rhode Island |
Key people | Angus Davis, Josh Kopelman, and Reid Hoffman |
| Products | Restaurant point of sale |
| Website | upserve |
Upserve, originally Swipely, provides a restaurant management platform which allows independent full-service restaurants to run and manage their entire business. The Platform is made up of restaurant-specific point of sale (POS) software, payments, and analytics, online ordering, loyalty, and marketing tools designed specifically for restaurants. At the center of the Upserve Platform is the cloud-based Upserve POS, a point of sale system that Upserve acquired from Groupon in 2016.[1]
In 2013, Forbes magazine included Swipely in its list of the top 100 “America’s Most Promising Companies.”[2] Upserve's former CEO, Angus Davis, was named to Forbes list of “America’s Most Promising CEOs Under 35.”[3] In 2017, Upserve received a nine-figure investment from Vista Equity Partners to accelerate the platform's growth.[4]
History and services
Upserve, formerly Swipely, was founded in 2009 by Angus Davis, the co-founder of Tellme Networks, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2007.[5][6][7] Swipely was formerly a social network in which members shared their purchases with friends.[8][9][10]
In February 2011, Swipely evolved into a loyalty platform for local merchants to reward repeat customers.[11] In 2016, Swipely acquired Breadcrumb POS from Groupon and re-branded to Upserve in order to reflect its offering of a comprehensive management system for the restaurant industry.[12]
In 2017, Upserve expanded its Restaurant Management Platform by offering integrated online ordering through a partnership with Grubhub, as well as its own online ordering solution.[13] In 2018, Upserve partnered with Resy to produce an industry-first POS integration to streamline reservations and table management.[14] Additionally, it introduced Upserve Marketplace, which is a curated hub of integrated restaurant technology for its customers to tie together disparate systems.[15]
In 2020, Upserve was acquired by Lightspeed.[16]
Financials and expansion
The Providence start-up[17] was the first Rhode Island-based software company to raise $7.5 million in Series A venture capital.[18] In 2013, Upserve secured a $12 million Series B investment led by Shasta Ventures and raised a $20 million Series C led by the Pritzker Group[19] bringing the total funds raised to $40.5 million.[20]
In July 2017, Upserve received a strategic investment of more than $100 million from Vista Equity Partners.[21] As of spring of 2018, thousands of restaurants use Upserve to manage relationships with more than 57 million active diners, process over $12 billion in annual sales, and serve over 36 million meals per month.
In 2018, Upserve opened an office in Denver adding to its existing office locations in San Francisco and New York, along with headquarters in Providence, RI.[22]
In July 2018, Upserve announced the acquisition of Israel-based inventory management platform SimpleOrder.[23]
Recognition
Swipely was named one of Forbes magazine's “America’s Most Promising Companies” in 2013.[2] The company is the first Rhode Island-based firm on this Forbes list.[24] CEO Davis has also been included on the Forbes list of “America’s Most Promising CEOs Under 35.”[3]
Upserve has been featured in New York Times, Forbes, CBS This Morning, Wall Street Journal,[25] Inc., Entrepreneur, Boston Globe,[26] Thrillist, BostInno,[27] Quartz and RestaurantInsider.
References
- ^ "Groupon sells restaurant-tech business Breadcrumb to Upserve" Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
- ^ a b “America’s Most Promising Companies.” Forbes magazine. Feb. 2013
- ^ a b “America’s Most Promising CEOs Under 35.” Forbes magazine
- ^ "Angus Davis Builds Upserve To Serve As Management Platform For America's One Million Restaurants" Forbes. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
- ^ Kara Swisher (2010-05-11). "Swipely Nabs $7.5 Million in Series A Funding for Social Spending (And to Attack Blippy!)". All Things D.
- ^ Sally Herships (2010-06-02). "Social shopping sites high in data value". NPR Marketplace.
- ^ Vara, Vauhini (March 15, 2007). "Microsoft Purchase Of Tellme Adds Voice To Web Initiative". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2009-06-01.
- ^ MG Siegler (2010-05-11). "You Could See Swipely's $7.5 Million Round On Blippy, But You Won't On Swipely". TechCrunch.
- ^ Brad Stone (2010-05-11). "Swipely Enters the Social Shopping Field". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ Ylan Q. Mui (2010-05-22). "In shoppers' online networks, privacy has no price tag". The Washington Post.
- ^ Alspach, Kyle. “Swipely vs. LevelUp: Battle in Boston Over Customer Loyalty Tech.” Boston Business Journal. Dec. 15, 2011
- ^ Bramson, Kate. "Providence's data company Swipely now Upserve, reflecting focus on restaurateurs". The Providence Journal. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
- ^ "Grubhub pairs with Oracle Hospitality to streamline orders" Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
- ^ "Resy rolls out a new suite of tools for restaurants" TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
- ^ "Upserve offers seamless online ordering" Fast Casual. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
- ^ "Lightspeed Announces Acquisition of Upserve to Further Omnichannel Revolution of American Restaurant Industry". Lightspeed HQ. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
- ^ Nesi, Ted. "Executive Suite." WPRI Eyewitness News. Dec. 31, 2012
- ^ Lacy, Sarah. “Swipely Is Processing $250m in Payments all from Tiny Rhode Island.” Pando Daily. Dec. 7, 2012
- ^ "Term Sheet -- Monday, May 9, 2016" Fortune. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
- ^ "Upserve, Providence’s restaurant-tech firm, lands major investment" Providence Journal. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
- ^ "Competitor of R.I. restaurant tech firm Upserve raises $101M in financing" Providence Journal. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
- ^ "Restaurant tech firm sets up at Denver Place" BusinessDen. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
- ^ "Upserve Acquires Inventory Management Platform" RhodeIslandInno. Retrieved 2018-07-27.
- ^ McGowan, Dan. “Providence-based Swipely Named to Forbes’ List of America’s 'Most Promising Companies'" WNAC-TV. Feb. 8, 2013
- ^ "Vista Invests in Restaurant Software Provider Upserve" Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
- ^ "How restaurants know what you want to eat before you do" Boston Globe. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
- ^ "Upserve Gets More Funding" BostInno. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
Further reading
- Kim, Ryan (December 17, 2012). "Swipely hits its stride combining payments, analytics and loyalty". Gigaom. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
- Wang, Selina (August 10, 2016). "Square Gives Loans to Restaurants Outside Network With Upserve". Bloomberg. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
- Grove, Jennifer Van (February 28, 2011). "Swipely Swaps Public Purchase-Sharing for Private Savings". Mashable. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
- Martin, Dylan (March 7, 2016). "Swipely Is Now Upserve & It's Leaning on AI to Make Restaurants Smarter". BostInno. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
- Wilhelm, Alex (September 24, 2013). "Now Processing $1B Annually, Swipely Announces A Partner Network To Support Growth". TechCrunch. Retrieved October 11, 2016.