Recipe for success? HungryHungry and MOBI merge in a bid to serve global markets

Hospitality tech platforms HungryHungry and MOBI have announced a merger ahead of an expansion into new markets, with a focus on the US. The deal said to be completed on May 31, will bring together HungryHungry’s hospitality-focused software with MOBI’s enterprise mobile technology.

New company, but the brands MOBI and HungryHungry will remain

Both brands will continue to operate in the market under a new holding company HHM Global Group PTY LTD.

“We love both brands, but we think it’s great to have one brand heavily focused on SME and one brand focused on mid-market & enterprise,” HungryHungry co-founder Mark Calabro said to SmartCompany.

The company also confirmed that no products will be discontinued and that customers of both brands won’t notice a difference “initially”.

“However with the scale we have now we’ll be able to combine our teams and with our wonderful people we can provide much better support to our customers,” Calabro said.

“Over time we will be able to introduce new products and services that can make our customers’ lives easier and unlock new potential for our customers.”

Both companies boast a strong journey so far

HungryHungry’s end-to-end ordering and payment platform was co-founded in 2019 by Shannon Hautot and Mark Calabro. The company raised $2 million in Series A in 2022, driven by the increased demand for innovation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

New Zealand’s MOBI was founded in 2010 and focuses on the enterprise space. It has over 3,000 hospitality businesses using its platform and claims $500 million in customer transactions annually. It also raised $10 million in Series B back in 2021.

It’s certainly been quite the year for hospitality mergers, with rivals Mr Yum and me&u making a similar move in late 2023.

However, according to HungryHungry, its union with MOBI is under much different circumstances.

Both Mr Yum and me&u laid off staff across 2023 and 2022 respectively, despite the $100 million in capital the former had raised in 2021.

Comparatively, HungryHungry’s chairman Brodie Arnold confirmed that both businesses are coming into the merger cash flow positive, EBITDA positive and debt free.

“For HungryHungry it gives us an instant launching pad into the North American market to expand our offering. For the whole group we get a much broader mix of products and domain experience and a founder-led mentality of innovation and pushing the boundaries,” Calabro said.

The new business will combine consumer-facing technology to attract new customers for venues while offering a white-label platform for brands to engage customers and build loyalty.

The future of HungryHungry and MOBI under one company

Leadership will be under HungryHungry’s Hautot and Calabro, following MOBI founder Tarik Mallet’s exit in 2022.

Hautot and Calabro have a background in the space with OrderMate, which they sold to MSL Solutions in 2021.

“Having been in this space for over two decades It’s a rare opportunity to witness two strong, established and profitable companies come together with a vision of combining forces to deliver massive value for customers,” Hautot said.

“We may be the underdogs in our space, having only raised a fraction of outside capital compared with some of our peers, but that means we’ve had to be very efficient and respectful with how we spend our investors’ money.”

Calabro went on to confirm that the merger will allow the new company to launch a new payment product called HungryPay.

“HungryPay is a completely ground-breaking product that allows consumers to split their bill in a shared live environment with friends using their own phone at a restaurant,” Calabro said.

“We’ve soft launched it in Australia and believe there’s a big market locally that we can tackle, however this product is really designed and built for the US market where it has great product market fit due to their hospitality service model and a total addressable market that dwarfs Australia.”

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