Just Eat buys restaurant software platform Flyt for £22mn

Food order and delivery firm, Just Eat, has just acquired the remaining shares of Flyt for £22mn (USD$28.4mn)

Flyt is a fintech startup that allows restaurant groups and restaurant suppliers to integrate their point of sale (POS) systems with third-party services.

Just Eat says that the technology platform, “removes the need for restaurant processes, reduces river wait times in restaurants and eliminates human error in order processing.”

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Sold by existing investors Time Out and Entree Capital, Flyt works with around 3,000 quick service and branded restaurants including KFC, Tim Hortons, Pizza Express and Nando’s.

The announcement comes shortly after Peter Plumb announced that he will step down as CEO and Director of the company.

On Monday, Peter Duffy, Chief Customer Officer, was appointed as Interim CEO and a Director of the firm.

Commenting on the acquisition, Duffy said: “Bringing Flyt into our Group will accelerate the take-up of these services around the world and allow the Flyt team to innovate with new and exciting technology solutions for the industry.

“We’ve admired Flyt for some time and are hugely impressed by their technology - integration between Just Eat and our restaurant partners is a critical component to providing world class food delivery services.”

Under the deal, Flyt will continue to operate as a standalone platform and band and its founders (Tom Weaver and Chris Evans) will continue to lead the business.

Just Eat was already one of Flyt’s investors, but this latest deal sees the takeaway firm become a majority owner.

Through the acquisition, Just Eat will develop Flyt’s technology firm and will offer Flyt’s services to more of its global restaurant partners.

Tom Weaver, CEO & Co-founder of Flyt added: “We’ve worked with Just Eat closely since they became an investor and customer in 2016 and have been continually impressed with Just Eat’s vision of the future.

“Flyt plays an essential role in accelerating the adoption of restaurant technology and the acquisition enables us to take our integration capabilities and platform to a wider audience of restaurants, technology partners and point of sale providers, faster.

“Whilst we will continue to operate as an independent business and standalone platform serving all our customers, it’s exciting to have the financial security and stability from Just Eat to now deliver on our vision for Flyt.”