Exclusive – hospitality tech companies me&u and Mr Yum merge: Australian-founded tech scale-ups me&u and Mr Yum have joined forces in an all-stock merger, “to become the world’s number one mobile ordering, payments and marketing platform for the hospitality industry”, Propel has learned. Both companies were founded in 2018 – me&u in Sydney and Mr Yum in Melbourne – and now power mobile ordering and guest marketing for more than 6,000 venues collectively, processing over AUD $2bn of restaurant transactions annually across Australia, New Zealand, the UK and USA. The combined company is on track to reach profitability in 2024 “with significant cash reserves”. It will be led by Kim Teo, Mr Yum’s co-founder, as chief executive. Stevan Premutico, me&u’s founder, will sit on the board as a non-executive director, with me&u chair Damian Smith appointed as chair. Teo said: “We're excited to join forces with another leader in this category. Over the years of competing in the marketplace, we’ve always had a deep respect for each other and are excited to learn from each other. From our international expansion efforts, we learnt that Australia has the highest penetration of QR code table ordering globally. We’re humbled that two Aussie-founded companies have built the best and most adopted platforms in our sector – used by thousands of venues and millions of guests.” Premutico added: “This is a rare opportunity to see two strong Australian companies coming together to take on the world. A shared ambition to blend together technology and great experiences to build a better, smarter future for our industry. Today’s announcement marks the beginning of a crazy exciting new era that will benefit customers and business owners around the world.” Both companies said the deal will lead to accelerated product innovation for their customers through collective investment in one set of features rather than a duplication of efforts. Kim added: “Four types of customers interact with our products today – the venue operator, guests, staff and head office teams. Over the next few months, our combined company will launch a number of new products/features focused on elevating the interactions between staff and guests, as well as marketing tools to help increase foot traffic and revenue.” The combined business has a UK customer base that includes Arc Inspirations, Arcade, Boxpark, City Pub Company, Hollywood Bowl, MeatLiquor, New World Trading Company, Shake Shack and Vagabond.