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inKind

Restaurant financing

21-100 employees

Hospitality
B2B
Marketplace
Financial Services
Accounting

Congress Avenue Historic District, Austin, TX

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Company mission

inKind’s mission is to support restaurants and connect consumers with experiences that enrich their everyday moments and commemorate their landmarks.

Top investors

43% female employees

63% employee growth in 12 months

Glassdoor (3)

Our take

Founded in 2017, inKind is spearheading a new approach to restaurant financing. It purchases food and beverages in advance, then resells this to consumers as credits to be spent at their chosen eateries. Restaurants get up-front cash, and consumers get a substantial credit account to enjoy at their preferred restaurant. This novel win-win approach has proven an attractive avenue for over 750 restaurants across the US and Australia to date.

The model allows restaurants to retain higher levels of operating cash without ceding equity to investors. Moreover, it has proven a useful tool for encouraging customer loyalty. Particularly over the past few years, many restaurants have turned to the company as a way of financing when budgets were tight.

It will be interesting to see how this attractive alternative to traditional restaurant financing plays out as the years go by. It is possible that Covid created a sufficiently violent shake-up in traditional operations to boost the profile and viability of inKind’s new model, however, the company has plans to expand to small businesses and retail in the future.