Me&u takes on American Express and DoorDash as it eyes first profitable year
Me&u launches a new AI-powered reservations platform to compete with Resy and SevenRooms, targeting profitability in 2026 after merging with Mr Yum.
Startup · $100m raised
Digital ordering and hospitality technology company
Melbourne, VIC
Programs: LaunchVic (30×30) · SmartCompany (Smart50 Rising Star)
Every investor coverage indicates participated in a round Mr Yum raised.
| Investor | Rounds | Invested |
|---|---|---|
| AirTree Ventures | Series A · Unnamed stage | - |
| Kogan | Series A | - |
| LaunchVic | Accelerator | - |
| Skip Capital | Series A | - |
| SmartCompany | Accelerator | - |
| Ten13 | Series A · Unnamed stage | - |
| Tiger Global | Series A | - |
Investors whose own portfolio pages list Mr Yum, even though we haven't found any coverage of the round yet.
| Investor | Listed on |
|---|---|
| Glitch Capital | its portfolio page ↗ |
| Side Stage Ventures | its portfolio page ↗ |
Every published round Mr Yum took part in, and every parcel of existing shares it bought off another holder. Deals we hold but haven't published yet are not counted.
Companies Mr Yum has backed in a published round, and companies whose existing shares it bought off another holder.
| Company | What it does | First invested | Rounds | Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No portfolio companies recorded yet. | ||||
Fund closes reported for Mr Yum, as distinct from the investments it has made.
Companies Mr Yum has backed that another company then bought. An exit for the holding, not a deal Mr Yum did.
| Company | Bought by | Kind | Announced | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No portfolio company of Mr Yum is recorded as having been acquired. | ||||
The transaction that ended Mr Yum's run as a startup, per published coverage. It closes the funding history too, where it is the ladder's last rung.
| Bought by | Kind | Announced | Price | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Me&U | Merger | 29 Nov 2023 | - | Ten13 (30 Jul 2024), Ten13 (13 Mar 2024), SmartCompany |
Companies Mr Yum acquired or merged with, per published coverage. Buying a company is not investing in one: nothing here counts in the deals column.
| Company | Kind | Announced | Price | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Me&U | Merger | 21 Sep 2023 | - | SmartCompany |
| MyGuestlist | Acquisition | 23 May 2022 | - | Forbes Australia, Startup Daily (24 Aug 2022), SmartCompany (23 Jun 2022), Startup Daily (23 May 2022), SmartCompany (3 May 2022) |
| Name | Role | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Adrian Osman | COO (former) · Founder | Ten13 portfolio, Startup Daily, Forbes Australia, SmartCompany (24 Nov 2022), SmartCompany (14 Sep 2022), SmartCompany (9 Aug 2022), SmartCompany (23 Jun 2022), Women's Agenda, Lawyers Weekly |
| Andrei Miulescu | CTO · Founder | Forbes Australia, SmartCompany |
| Kerry Osborn | CXO · Founder | Forbes Australia, SmartCompany, Women's Agenda |
| Kim Teo | CEO (former) · Founder | Ten13 portfolio, Ten13, SmartCompany (30 Nov 2023), SmartCompany (21 Sep 2023), Startup Daily (22 Mar 2023), Forbes Australia, Startup Daily (24 Aug 2022), SmartCompany (23 Jun 2022), SmartCompany (3 May 2022), Women's Agenda, SmartCompany (30 Nov 2021), Lawyers Weekly |
| Matthew Blode | Software Engineer (former) | Startup Daily |
| Tom McKenzie | Founding Engineer | Startmate, Startup Daily |
Stories naming Mr Yum. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Me&u launches a new AI-powered reservations platform to compete with Resy and SevenRooms, targeting profitability in 2026 after merging with Mr Yum.
Startmate profiles Brainwaves, which builds strategy software for marketing teams, ahead of its Demo Day pitch, covering the founding team, early revenue and enterprise traction.
Nineteen early-stage companies join Startmate's Summer '26 accelerator intake, each receiving $120,000 for 7% equity — $2.28 million overall — spanning construction, healthcare, fintech, energy and manufacturing.
Linktree has bought Melbourne rival Fingertip and will shut it down in 2026, with its cofounders joining; the piece also recaps Linktree's earlier acquisitions and the Leibovich brothers' failed ventures.
Also Dealroom·Forbes Australia
Equity raise of $2.3m by Advanced, a Sunshine Coast R&D finance startup building a $25m lending fund; backers include Wayne Gerard and Phil Cummins, who joins the board.
TEN13's investor letter celebrates passing $100 million deployed, plus fresh backing for iion and Switchboard, team promotions, AutoGrab's overseas growth and NZ-arm sale, and the Mr Yum–Me&U merger.
Melbourne payments platform HungryHungry and New Zealand's MOBI have merged, with HungryHungry now running the Wellington business; terms undisclosed. The article recalls earlier angel and seed raises and the founders' sale of OrderMate.
TEN13 newsletter reporting Chipper Cash's US$150m unicorn round, Mr Yum's Tiger Global-led Series A, and new investments in Payhippo, Preezie, Pushas and Heaps Normal, plus portfolio updates.
Also Skalata Ventures·Skalata Ventures·Archangel Ventures portfolio·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Women's Agenda·Beef Central / Grain Central·Forbes Australia·SmartCompany·LaunchVic
Ten13's year-end post recaps nine new portfolio additions, follow-on support for existing holdings, the Mr Yum and Me&U merger, Go1's Blinkist acquisition, Smileyscope's FDA clearance, and community events.
Also Ten13·OIF Ventures portfolio·TechCrunch Australia·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Forbes Australia
LinkedIn's seventh annual ranking of Australia's top startups puts Immutable first and Harrison.ai second; the piece also notes me&u's recent merger with Mr Yum and the Tran brothers' three-year fundraising tally.
Also Startup Daily
Table-ordering rivals Mr Yum and me&u will combine in a stock deal, with Mr Yum's chief executive leading the merged business; earlier raises by both are recapped.
VentureCrowd and Pitch VC are launching a white-label platform that lets newcomers run their own startup funds; Pitch VC's two founders join VentureCrowd's leadership to build it.
Founder-backed syndicate Side Stage Ventures has become a $15 million seed fund, with LocalGlobe and several founders as limited partners, three startups already backed, and portfolio company Joyn acquiring event firm Arinex.
SmartCompany reports Side Stage Ventures has completed a $15 million first close of its debut fund, backed by founders of Airtasker, Linktree and Go1 plus LocalGlobe, targeting $30 million and already backing early startups.
Melbourne hospitality tech firm Liven has bought four software startups, two Australian plus one Singaporean and one American, for a combined $152 million, expanding its all-in-one restaurant technology offering.
Ignition Lane's weekly wrap: Tiger Global's losses and past Australian bets, MilkRun and TradeSquare closures, Cyara's Spearline acquisition, a Co Ventures pre-seed fund, Square Peg's partner promotion and LaunchVic's 30×30 picks.
Canva has opened a converted Collingwood warehouse as its new Melbourne office and says it has no layoff plans, citing six consecutive profitable years while hiring continues despite widespread tech sector job cuts.
The hospitality-tech firm Mr Yum has axed 40 more staff as it pushes toward profit; the article recalls the $89 million Series A that Tiger Global led in November 2021.
LaunchVic reopens expressions of interest for its 30×30 program aiming to create 30 Victorian unicorns by 2030, recalling last year's nine participants, while July appoints Joanne Smith as its first chief financial officer.
Antler Australia's investor memo profiles Liively, a pre-seed in-venue delivery startup founded by Norbert Herrmann that brings food and drinks to stadium seats, with major Australian venues taking notice.
SmartCompany names its 2022 Smart50 winners: July tops the list, Ofload ranks second after a $60 million raise, and Mad Paws, Zero Co, Code Like a Girl and Hero Packaging take out category awards.
A profile of Clipboard co-founder Brendan Leeds, whose hospitality careers platform has drawn backers such as Gerry Ryan and Neil Wilson, with attention to worker mental health.
Doshii reports rapid uptake of QR code table ordering among Australian hospitality venues, with order volumes up sharply as operators adopt apps to cope with staff shortages; the Commonwealth Bank-backed platform integrates venue apps.
Coverage of AgFunder and AgriFutures' new Asia-Pacific investment report, which found Australian agrifoodtech startups attracted $565.5 million across 55 deals in 2021, plus Lyro's raises and evokeAG 2023 applications.
Australian venture firms Airtree, Square Peg and Blackbird have written down their Canva stakes, valuing the design company well below its last raise, amid wider market corrections hitting Klarna and other late-stage startups.
Weekly tech wrap: cloud-market trends, Tiger Global's cheques into Stake, Shippit and Carma, new VC funds, several acquisitions, grocery delivery startups Send and Quicko collapsing, and Elaine Stead joining M8 Ventures.
Also Startup Daily
Hospitality tech firm Mr Yum has bought customer data platform MyGuestlist in a cash-and-stock deal worth tens of millions, its first acquisition, following an $89 million raise led by Tiger Global.
Also Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Forbes Australia
Linktree's co-founders have launched Side Stage Ventures, a collective investing in very young creative-tech companies; it has already backed several startups, and associate Ben Grabiner's music platform Platoon was bought by Apple.
Also Australian FinTech
Rokt's Series E tops a week of Australian raises including Dovetail, Inventia, DiviPay, Atomi, 6clicks, Replica Studios and ProForm Foods, with SimPro's recent raise noted.
Also Startup Daily·Techboard·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily
Tiger Global led a US$16.5m secondary funding round in construction software firm Assignar, co-led by SecondQuarter Ventures, with Fifth Wall and HighSage taking part; past backers and a $20m Series B are recalled.
Herbert Smith Freehills advised QR ordering and payments startup Mr Yum on its $11 million raise, which TEN13 and AirTree Ventures led; the company cited strong pandemic-driven growth.
Also SmartCompany