Presto Automation, an automation solutions provider to the restaurant industry, has reached an agreement with Remus Capital-affiliated syndicate of investors to divest its 7,000,000 shares in a registered offering.

The tech company anticipates that the deal will result in gross proceeds of approximately $7m.

Presto intends to use the investment to reduce costs, improve profitability and streamline operations by offloading 17% of the global full-time employee base.

As of 30 June 2023, Presto had a workforce of 137 full-time employees located in the US, India and Canada.

Presto CEO Xavier Casanova said: “This equity commitment by a group of sophisticated investors demonstrates the strength of our strategic plans and market position.

“This funding, along with our efficiency initiatives, will enable us to continue leaning into the growth we are experiencing in our Presto Voice AI platform and will support our ability to maximise shareholder value with Presto Touch.

“We recently announced we have $17m of revenue opportunity at franchisee customers that are part of restaurant groups with signed MSAs [master service agreements] or pilots and $100m of revenue opportunity at brands with signed MSAs or pilots; we intend to use this capital toward capturing that opportunity.”

The capital injection by Remus Capital comes as an addition to the $3m invested by Cleveland Avenue previously and a $3m upsize of the company’s existing credit facility with Metropolitan Partners Group.

As per the deal, Remus Capital has appointed two additional directors to Presto's board of directors.

For this transaction, Northland Capital Markets, Chardan and The Benchmark Company are the placement agents for the offering.