Ex-Adyen co-founder’s Amsterdam startup Tebi secures €20M to transform retail and hospitality operations

Amsterdam-based Tebi, a startup developing an all-in-one operational platform, has raised €20M in a Series A round of funding led by Index Ventures. This marks Tebi’s first institutional investment since its founding three years ago.

Index Ventures is a global VC firm that helps entrepreneurs turn big ideas into successful businesses. With over 30 years of experience, Index provides founders with a team of experts, strategic advice, and a global network.

Jan Hammer, partner at Index Ventures, says, “It’s inspiring to partner with founders who are as values-driven and mission-oriented as they are technically talented. We believe that companies who put their customers first will naturally succeed.”

“By combining a deep respect for the people in this industry with unparalleled fintech expertise, Arnout and the Tebi team have the potential to create new standards of excellence for business software.”

A tooling platform for businesses in hospitality, retail and services

Tebi, co-founded in 2021 by Arnout Schuijff and Rob Vonk from Adyen, aims to give independent businesses enterprise-level tools with the simplicity of a consumer app. The company’s founding team also includes Greta Castellana, Thijs van Himbergen, and Mazdak Nasori.

CEO Schuijff’s concern for small cafes and shops led him to build a sales app for a friend in 2012, which grew into Tebi, now processing over €100M annually.

“Hospitality and retail businesses bring life and jobs to our communities – but when it comes to technology, they haven’t had a genuine partner who’s on their side and brings a holistic understanding of their needs,” says Schuijff.

“They’re weary of being locked into multiple, overpriced contracts for underperforming bits of financial software. That’s why Tebi is replacing a multitude of point solutions with a single, comprehensive and intuitive platform that anyone can use,” adds Schuijff.

Tebi’s mobile platform offers tools like point of sale, payments, inventory management, kitchen display, reservations, QR ordering, and bookkeeping. It uses a single (Kotlin) codebase for quick updates across Server, iOS, and Android, allowing fast improvements based on customer feedback. Built on an accounting system, it ensures accurate financial data for users.

Co-founder Schuijff, says, “We’re at a moment in history when you can take your phone and start a business — without dedicated hardware or ugly, complicated software. Taking orders and payments, keeping stock, checking your real-time revenue across multiple locations: it can now all be done with a few taps, lowering the threshold to entrepreneurship considerably, and running on smartphones and commodity hardware setups that don’t cost an arm and a leg.”

“But Tebi’s true power lies in complex multi-location setups with many devices, syncing in real time and providing the instant insights needed to keep track of those locations.”

Tebi allows merchants to shape its features through feedback and offers pricing based on users’ monthly revenue. The app is free for businesses under a certain revenue threshold, with no extra charges for additional devices, users, or locations. 

According to Tebi, its non-founder employees own over 15 per cent of the company.

Capital utilisation

The funds will help Tebi to speed up its product development and expand globally beyond the Netherlands. The startup, currently with 30 employees in Amsterdam, aims to grow its team and broaden its platform to serve industries beyond hospitality and retail.

Co-founder Schuijff, says, “Many of us didn’t realise how important bars and cafes were until we couldn’t visit them during lockdowns, and then watched them struggle to survive. We’re bringing all the lessons we learnt at Adyen to give these businesses the tools they need to be sustainable.”

“Our goal is to become the operational partner for independent businesses, helping to make better decisions every day, and freeing up owners to bring their full creativity and passion to this critical vocation. By giving access to the same capabilities as large-scale operations, we want to help level the playing field for the businesses that bring life to our cities and neighbourhoods.”