Austin PE Firm Acquires Restaurant Management Platform Tripleseat

Concord-based Tripleseat, the sales and event management platform for restaurants and hotels, got acquired by Austin, Texas-based private equity firm, Vista Equity Partners.

The merger was backed by Vista’s Endeavor Fund,  Enlightened Hospitality Investments, and Union Square Hospitality Group. Union Square Hospitality is owned by Danny Meyer, the maverick New York restauranteur behind many popular New York restaurants including Shake Shack, Gramercy Tavern and Jazz Standard.

Through this acquisition, Vista Equity Partners will merge Tripleseat with one of its existing portfolio companies, Gather. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Gather also sells event management software to restaurants.

The new entity will operate under the Tripleseat brand, with Tripleseat CEO Jonathan Morse heading the company. The combined company will be headquartered in Concord, Mass. with a significant presence in Atlanta. The company doubled in size — in headcount as well as revenue.

“We have been talking to Vista Equity Partners for two years now and the timing hasn’t been right and in May last we decided it was time and the talks proceeded from there,” Morse said in a statement. “We are excited to join forces with the Gather team, who share our belief in the immense opportunity to utilize technology solutions to transform the way events are booked and managed.”

After being self-funded for nearly a decade since its founding in 2008, Tripleseat raised $7 million from private investor Level Equity in June 2017. When BostInno spoke to Morse in 2018, he said the goal was to build up its core market in the U.S., while also continuing growth in other areas such as Australia, Europe and Canada.

Tripleseat counts local restaurants like Davio’s, Grill 23 & Bar, City Winery and Barbara Lynch among its clients.

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