Aigens, a food and beverage SaaS startup based in Hong Kong, has secured $14 million in a Series A funding round led by Jack Ma’s Ant Group, according to a company announcement on Monday.
The other backers included Singapore’s venture capital and private equity firms Velocity Ventures, Phillip Private Equity, and Prizm Ventures.
Aigens digitises food and beverages with mobile ordering and payment, and claims to have been the first to introduce QR code-ordering technology in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia.
The company operates in 14 markets and serves more than 4,000 restaurant outlets, including global names such as Jollibee Group, Burger King, Starbucks, Shake Shack, and Pizza Hut.
The startup plans to use its Series A funding to accelerate Asia-Pacific expansion and step up recruitment efforts to boost sales, product development, operations, and partnership teams as well as expand to new verticals such as hospitality, per the company statement. The company currently has 120 employees across six offices globally.
Aigens was co-founded in 2012 by chief executive officer Hans Paul and chief technology officer Peter Liu, who are both graduates of University of California, Berkeley.
“The COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, has caused an exponential surge in the adoption of restaurant technology. We grew from less than a 1,000 outlets to 4,000 outlets in just two years. This exponential growth has convinced us that there is so much potential in both the industry and the APAC market,” said Paul in the statement.