Choice Raises $7.1M Series A to Transform Restaurant Tech
▼ Summary
– Choice, a Prague-founded all-in-one SaaS platform for independent restaurants, has raised a $7.1 million Series A, bringing its total funding to $11.6 million.
– The funding will support its expansion from nine Central and Eastern European markets into Western Europe, starting with Portugal and followed by Spain, Italy, France, Germany, and the Netherlands.
– The platform consolidates numerous restaurant management tools, like ordering, payments, reservations, and marketplace integrations, into a single subscription to combat market fragmentation.
– The company currently serves over 30,000 registered restaurants, processes 1.5 million monthly orders, and reported entering 2026 with around $5 million in annualized recurring revenue.
– The lead investor, Lisbon-based Alea Capital Partners, will specifically support Choice’s scaling in Southern Europe, aligning with its strategy of hiring local teams in each new market.
A Prague-based company providing a unified software platform for independent restaurants has secured a significant new investment to fuel its expansion across Western Europe. Choice, the all-in-one SaaS platform for independent restaurants, has closed a $7.1 million Series A funding round. This capital injection, led by Lisbon-based Alea Capital Partners, brings the company’s total funding to $11.6 million. The investment will directly support the platform’s strategic push into new markets, beginning with Portugal later this year before moving into Spain, Italy, France, Germany, and the Netherlands.
Founded in 2021 by Alex Ilyash, Volodymyr Olyanitsky, and Robert Novosad, Choice was initially developed as a tool to help restaurants establish an online presence. It has since evolved into a comprehensive operating system designed specifically for independent and multi-location venues. The platform consolidates a wide array of essential functions into a single subscription and admin panel. These tools include a website builder, commission-free online ordering, QR code menus and payments, table reservations integrated with Google, connections to major delivery apps like Wolt and Uber Eats, loyalty programs, and point-of-sale integration.
This focus on consolidation is central to Choice’s value proposition. The restaurant technology landscape is often fragmented, forcing owners to juggle multiple specialized solutions. This creates separate data silos, integration challenges, and a stack of monthly bills. Choice argues that its unified platform replaces this costly patchwork, centralizing customer data from every channel and helping independent operators, who must manage costs meticulously, improve efficiency and protect their margins.
The company’s growth metrics underscore its traction. Choice currently serves over 30,000 registered restaurants, with more than 7,000 paying customers across nine Central and Eastern European markets: the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, and Romania. The platform processes an impressive 1.5 million orders each month, representing roughly €35 million in gross merchandise value. The company reports it has doubled its business year-over-year and entered 2026 with approximately $5 million in annual recurring revenue, a figure confirmed by its lead investor.
Alea Capital’s involvement is a strategic signal for Choice’s geographic ambitions. The Lisbon-based firm will provide specific support for scaling across Southern Europe. “Choice is addressing one of the most pressing challenges facing restaurants today: operating efficiently in a highly dynamic market with structurally tight margins,” said Rui Escaleira, Co-Founder of Alea Capital Partners. He added that the platform helps restaurants gain greater control over digital ordering, develop additional revenue streams, and cultivate a more balanced relationship with third-party delivery platforms.
The new funding will be allocated primarily toward product development, including new AI-integrated modules, and bolstering sales and marketing teams in target countries. True to its established playbook, Choice plans to hire local sales and customer success personnel in each new market rather than attempting to manage expansion remotely. This hands-on, localized approach was a hallmark of its successful growth across Central and Eastern Europe.
Existing investors Reflex Capital, Smartlink, and J&T Ventures, which led Choice’s previous late-seed round, also participated in this Series A financing. With a proven model in CEE and a clear roadmap for Western Europe, Choice is positioning its consolidated platform as a vital operating system for the modern independent restaurant.
(Source: The Next Web)
