Papaya CEO Kush Sodhia
Papaya, a Thailand-based omnichannel ordering and payments platform for restaurants, bars, and hotels, has secured an undisclosed amount in an equity financing round led by Beenext.
A2D Ventures also participated.
With the new capital, the B2B venture plans to expand its operations to Singapore, enhance its integrated technology infrastructure, and invest in marketing efforts to grow its merchant base.
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Papaya was founded in mid-2022 by Kush Sodhia, Haakon Brekke, and Julian Timings.
The startup provides a digital ordering and payment customer experience across dine-in, takeaway, and delivery channels. The firm claims its platform allows hospitality (restaurants, bars, hotels) operators to grow sales by 20 per cent on average while reducing staff work by up to 30 per cent, all while learning more about their customer base.
Customers can dine at their own pace rather than relying on staff availability. As they use their phones to order, pay, and create accounts, Papaya can provide merchants with customer-level insights to enhance the overall customer experience.
“Hospitality was one of the hardest hit industries during COVID and recovery has been slow. Sales are only now starting to hit pre-COVID levels and there is still a 35 per cent shortage of staff across the industry in SEA. The industry has also lagged when it comes to understanding customers in a data-driven way,” said Kush Sodhia, CEO of Papaya. “We founded Papaya to help operators use technology to solve these problems and are excited to have BEENEXT and A2D Ventures as new partners on this journey.”
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Since its launch, Papaya has partnered with a number of cafes and restaurants across Thailand, including Tim Hortons, Bartels, Fatboy Izakaya, The Commons, Vistro, and Okasan.
Papaya previously raised capital from Global Founders Capital and The MBA Fund.
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