Austin-based inKind raises $450M to fund 10,000 restaurants

A local tech company recently secured $450 million in its latest funding round, and it’s preparing to invest almost all of it in restaurants.

Austin-based inKind announced that the funding and any future capital raised will be dedicated to its mission of funding 10,000 restaurants in 2026.

“That funding, it’s almost entirely going toward restaurants,” CEO and cofounder Johann Moonesinghe told the American-Statesman. “But it actually isn’t enough. We have so much demand from restaurants because we’ve established ourselves as one of the best ways to finance restaurants. We work with great restaurant groups, and we also work with independent restaurants, all people who are really passionate about what they do and they all need funding to grow.”

A decade ago, Moonesinghe founded inKind alongside his husband, Andy, and brother, Rajan, while living in Washington, D.C., with the mission of helping restaurants grow and thrive.

They built and launched the first “restaurant incubator” — modeled after the Techstars accelerator in Colorado — bringing together business leaders, chefs, restaurateurs and more to give smaller spots a place to learn how to grow their businesses and avoid closing.

Often plagued by high operating costs and location issues, about 17% of restaurants fail within their first year, according to research. Nearly 80% of restaurants fail within five years.

MORE FUNDING NEWS: Former Silicon Labs CEO’s AI startup lands one of Texas’ largest angel rounds

The trio’s restaurant incubator transitioned into the tech platform inKind, which is a dual-sided marketplace for both consumers and restaurants. On the consumer side, the app offers consumers exclusive dining experiences and rewards to help consumers save money and try new restaurants with no detriment to the restaurant. On the business side, the platform offers debt-free funding to restaurants. 

The company has roughly 4 million users on the platform and has funded $600 million in about 6,000 restaurants nationwide. The company currently has about 180 employees, 100 of whom are located at the company’s Austin headquarters at the corner of West Sixth Street and Congress Avenue.

“We’re very picky about who we fund, we only work with great restaurants,” Moonesinghe said. “As a consumer, you open the app and know you’ll find a great restaurant, otherwise they’d stop using the app. We only fund those restaurants with great food, great hospitality, but there’s so many of those. There’s so much demand.”

According to Moonesinghe, only about 2% of the companies inKind invests in close. 

And the $600 million invested in restaurants includes large investments locally. 

Outside of inKind, Moonesinghe owns restaurants locally, including Ember Kitchen and The Guest House. Moonesinghe said inKind has invested $79 million into Austin restaurants like TenTen, El Raval, Devil May Care and The Well. 

A lot of the push and effort to fund restaurants, especially locally, came in honor of his brother, who cofounded the company. Rajan Moonesinghe was killed by an Austin Police officer in 2022. In November, the two-week trial of Officer Daniel Sanchez ended in a mistrial. A new trial is set to begin in August.

“We have a very, very, very strong mission of helping restaurateurs, and we do that a lot in honor of Rajan and his legacy,” Moonesinghe said. “Restaurants are critical to communities. They are the nexuses of communities where we gather, and they’re typically owned by individuals who are working really really hard.”