36Kr Exclusive | Chowbus Secures $81 Million in Funding, Leveraging AI to Become the Preferred SaaS for North American Food and Beverage Brands

36Kr has learned that Chowbus, a leading North American food service SaaS company, has announced the completion of a new round of financing worth $81 million, bringing the cumulative financing scale to $209 million. In this round, Prysm Capital and Left Lane Capital jointly led the investment, with follow - on investments from Dutchess, Fika, Avid Bank, etc. This round of financing will be mainly invested in two major directions: AI business R & D and global layout.

Chowbus is a company that 36Kr has been continuously following. It was founded in 2016 and has been deeply involved in the North American market for a decade, achieving full - scale business coverage across the United States and Canada. With the characteristics of "North American native genes + in - depth adaptation to all categories", Chowbus has now become the core partner of a large number of Chinese food service brands going global, such as MoLiNaiBai, Shanghai Auntie, Nayuki, Cha Baidao, Shu Yi Shao Xian Cao, Cha Hua Nong, Xiao Long Kan, Wallace, Ziyan Baiwei Chicken, as well as North American local Asian food brands like Chuan Shan Jia, Zhe Li, and Chubby Group.

More than two years have passed since its last round of financing. During this period, the company completed a crucial transformation - from the well - known "Asian food delivery platform" to a SaaS service provider focusing on Asian food service.

After selling its food delivery business in 2024, Chowbus fully focused on the cloud - based POS and ecosystem. It has currently built a full - link product matrix covering the front, middle, and back - ends: The front - end provides touchpoints such as self - service ordering, pick - up call numbers, brand - customized skins, and exclusive APPs to enhance the experience and brand consistency; the back - end connects the front hall, kitchen, and food delivery workflow through the KDS intelligent kitchen display system to improve food preparation efficiency; the middle - end provides operation modules such as membership, CRM, employee management, and data analysis based on the cloud platform.

Focusing on AI, Nearly a Thousand Restaurants Adopted the First Product in Two Months

Chowbus began exploring AI at the end of 2024. In January this year, the company launched its first AI product - AI Digital Ads, which helps restaurants automatically place ads on platforms like Google Maps. In the past, restaurants had to spend two or three thousand dollars a month on such ad placements, while Chowbus's AI tool charges $300 per month, which can bring 50 - 150 in - store customers to restaurants, equivalent to a customer acquisition cost of only $2 - 6.

"Nearly a thousand restaurants have been using it two months after its launch," Wen Linxin, the founder and CEO of Chowbus, told 36Kr.

It is reported that Chowbus will also launch products such as AI marketing calendar, AI phone answering, and AI data insights in the future, covering all aspects of restaurant marketing, customer service, and operation, to more comprehensively make up for the digital operation shortcomings of food service brands.

For example, the AI marketing calendar can automatically plan social media content for restaurants; AI phone answering solves the pain points of phone ordering and location; AI data insights send daily business reports to restaurants, suggesting actionable items for optimization. "It's like an AI restaurant butler with many assistants helping in different fields."

Regarding the AI strategy, Wen Linxin said, "In this era, AI is not an option but a necessity." Harley Miller, the managing partner of Left Lane Capital, the leading investor in this round, said, "Chowbus is using AI to enter these huge service areas, providing capabilities 10 times more efficient than traditional solutions."

Taking Canada as the First Stop, Accelerating Global Layout

In terms of customer structure, Chowbus has deeply bound a large number of Chinese brands going global and North American local Asian food brands. Wen Linxin described the relationship between the two sides as "revolutionary friendship": "We provide local knowledge (compliance, tipping culture, employee on - the - ground implementation), and they bring advanced concepts."

He observed that Chinese brands going to the United States are showing new characteristics: It takes a long time to open the first store (it may take 6 - 12 months), but once the store is opened, it is "very profitable" and the revenue remains stable. "The United States is a place suitable for long - term business, with high customer loyalty. The revenue of many single - store brands has increased instead of decreased after more than two years."

Now, besides AI, regional expansion has become another growth area for Chowbus in the next stage. Chowbus mainly covered business districts in first - tier cities in the past. In 2026, second - and third - tier cities will become the focus of expansion. In addition, it will take Canada as a new starting point to accelerate its global layout.

Overall, the North American food service SaaS market is highly competitive, but Wen Linxin is calm: "We are a modern all - in - one solution targeting Asian food service, and we are the only one with this positioning in the market currently." He gave a positive outlook for the future: to increase ten - fold in three years. "The market is far from saturated, and we don't even have enough resources in first - tier cities. With the additional purchase of AI products, expansion in second - and third - tier cities, and exploration in Canada, the growth path is clear."