By Ian McConnell

AN EDINBURGH-based company specialising in electronic point-of-sale technology for the hospitality sector has launched a £250,000 crowdfunding campaign to fuel expansion through customer acquisition.

ePOS Hybrid noted it was launching the month-long campaign having already secured £150,000 of private funding in six days. It also highlighted an investment of $50,000 (£38,000) from a US company based in Silicon Valley, which it did not name.

The Scottish company, which has launched its funding campaign on Crowdcube, said it had an “extensive portfolio” of clients across Scotland, England and Wales as well as customers as far afield as Australia and India.

It added that, since its product launch in April 2019, it had already secured more than 200 clients and was on target to reach 500 by May.

ePOS Hybrid noted its products included point-of-sale terminals and online and mobile ordering solutions. It also highlighted its provision of customer self-checkouts and interactive smart tables.

The company flagged a recent contract from a “large fast-food-enterprise firm with locations across the UK”. It did not name the client.

Andrew Gibbon, head of growth at ePOS Hybrid, said: “The launch of the campaign and the momentum it has already generated, especially from US investors, has brought great excitement amongst the team. We’ve worked extremely hard to get the business to where it is today.”

He added: “The crowdfund will allow us to supercharge our customer onboarding through investment across our marketing and sales activity. We’ve spent the last six months implementing sustainable growth strategies, achieving effective lead generation and low customer acquisition costs, and we’re now in a position to rapidly scale.”

Mr Gibbon said ePOS Hybrid was growing its “customer onboarding” to 75 new clients every month.

He added: “This funding round will allow us to create new jobs to help facilitate our ever-growing customer sign-ups and wider business development.”

Bhas Kalangi, chief executive and founder of ePOS Hybrid, flagged the company’s focus on delivering technology to small and medium-sized operators and larger “enterprise” organisations in the UK.

He said: “Eighty-four per cent of food and drink operators are still using little to no technology in their operations – as a result they’re struggling to meet consumer demand.”