Tebi, an Amsterdam-based all-in-one financial operating system for retail and hospitality businesses, has secured €20 million in funding in the company’s first institutional investment round. The Series A funding round was led by Index Ventures (which recently invested in Wiz and Scale AI),
With the new funding, Tebi plans to accelerate its product development and expand its reach beyond the Netherlands, bringing the platform to businesses worldwide. Currently, the startup employs 30 people at its Amsterdam headquarters and plans to grow its team and expand its product beyond hospitality and retail.
“It’s inspiring to partner with founders who are as values-driven and mission-oriented as they are technically talented,” said Jan Hammer, partner at Index Ventures. “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.”
Who is behind Tebi?
Tebi was co-founded in 2021 by a team of creatives, business owners, and serial entrepreneurs, including Arnout Schuijff, the co-founder and former CTO of Adyen, and Rob Vonk, Adyen’s former EVP of Technology. Three years after Adyen went public, Vonk and Schuijff teamed with Greta Castellana, Thijs van Himbergen, and Mazdak Nasori to create this startup.
Schuijff, who serves as Tebi’s CEO, has been troubled by the plight of independent cafes and shops for over a decade. What began as a side project for Schuijff, who first hacked together a sales app for a bar-owner friend in 2012, has now become a business that processes over €100 million a year.
All-in-one financial operating system
The startup provides a comprehensive, mobile-first solution that includes point of sale, integrated payments, reservations, inventory management, QR ordering, and bookkeeping. With its unique pricing model and commitment to merchant success, Tebi is dedicated to empowering independent businesses everywhere. The platform was built on an accounting backbone, providing a single source of truth for users’ financial data.
The company allows merchant feedback to determine what features they build as well as offering a pricing tied to users’ monthly revenue. The Tebi App is free for those whose revenue stays under a certain threshold, and the company doesn’t charge extra for additional devices, users, or locations. In addition, Tebi’s employees own 15% of the company.
Notably, Tebi offers all features for a single monthly subscription with no contract, unlimited devices and users, and some of the lowest transaction fees.
“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,” said Tebi co-founder Arnout Schuijff. “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 neighborhoods.”
Xander Waller, who has worked in hospitality since the age of 16, now relies on Tebi to run both a bar and a casual dining restaurant he owns in Amsterdam. “The whole thing with Tebi is that it’s super easy to work with,” he said. “It’s like an iPhone, basically everyone can use it from the get-go, so you don’t need to explain anything – which is pretty important in the fast-paced environment of a restaurant, where every minute counts. With Tebi, everyone involved in the guest journey, from the maitre d’ to the chef to the bartender, knows what they have to do with zero hassle. It also means there’s no loss of revenue or miscommunication between the kitchen and the servers; there’s a super clear flow of money, and it’s very clear how the money is earned.”
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