The Series D-1 round for the Boston-grown online catering marketplace put it at a US$1.25 billion valuation

GIC, Singapore-based wealth fund, announced yesterday that it has co-invested a total of US$150 million in Boston-based ezCater, online catering marketplace, alongside Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Also participating in the round were Light Street Capital, Wellington Management, ICONIQ Capital, and Quadrille Capital.

The deal bumped ezCater to unicorn status for its valuation is estimated to be at US$1.25 billion. The company further plans to accelerate its international expansion with potential merger and acquisition in the future, as well as look into a possible initial public offering.

“Raising money or getting to unicorn status, it’s all nice validation but that’s not the purpose, the purpose of being in business is to grow a successful company with happy customers and happy employees,” said Stefania Mallett, ezCater’s Chief Executive Officer, as told to Techcrunch.

ezCater was built and bootstrapped by Stefania Mallett and Briscoe Rodgers as an online marketplace for business catering back in 2007.

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To date, ezCater said it has worked with 60,500 restaurants and caterers around the U.S. to fulfill orders, but never work directly with food nor make any deliveries themselves. Mallet likened this aspect of ezCater to Expedia, the travel company.

In 2011, the company secured a Series A investment of US$2.7 million, followed closely with equity fundraise of more than US$300 million. Just ten months ago, thanks to the increasing popularity of food tech, ezCater raised a US$100 million Series D.

In July 2018, ezCater expanded globally by acquiring GoCater, a Paris-based online catering platform. Most recently, ezCater just acquired Monkey Group, a cloud platform for take-out, delivery, and catering which in return reaffirmed the company’s position as market leader in catering management software, Mallett said.

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“As we’ve grown, we are in a good position to continue operating as a standalone company or be acquired by a public company or go public if we see an opportunity to do that,” Mallett closed.
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