Finnish start-up Cluby has secured €2.9m ($3.1m) in seed funding to support its objective of converting anonymous restaurant visitors into loyal customers.
The investment came from Vendep Capital, along with contributions from Cluby co-founder Pekka Koskinen and Elias Aalto, co-founder of food delivery company Wolt.
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Cluby will use the funds to broaden its footprint across Europe during 2024, bringing its expertise and restaurant platform to a wider audience.
Founded in 2018 by Kalle Ek, Joel Leino and Pekka Koskinen, Cluby has grown to a team of 12 and secured €3.2m in funding.
Cluby offers a user-friendly platform that allows restaurants, cafés, nightclubs and other venues to engage with customers, maintain customer registers and sell digital products.
Digital products include event tickets, monthly subscriptions, VIP passes and member benefits, all designed to foster repeat business through targeted marketing campaigns.
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By GlobalDataAll activities are carried out in a single, centralised and easy-to-use application.
The app consolidates services, allowing customers to engage with cafés, bars, restaurants and nightclubs.
Cluby registered a fivefold growth rate in 2024, with more than 500 restaurants utilising the platform and 100,000 app downloads.
Kalle Ek said: “We saw the market need for Cluby already five years ago, and we launched the prototype in the summer of 2019. But then Covid hit the restaurant industry, and therefore us, really hard.
“For three years, we kept our team small and improved our product in a close relationship with hand-selected restaurants. At the beginning of 2023, we decided it was time to start scaling, and since then we’ve grown both our restaurant and our user base month-to-month. We’re proud of what we’ve achieved with our team so far, and we’re excited to finally expand Cluby to other countries in Europe.”
