Chowbus

Chowbus is a technology company specializing in restaurant services, originally established as an online food ordering, payment, and delivery platform. It was founded in Chicago, U.S. in 2016 by Linxin Wen and Suyu Zhang. The company's primary mission is to bridge the gap between consumers and authentic Asian cuisine that is often underrepresented on mainstream delivery platforms. Over time, Chowbus expanded its services beyond delivery, venturing into software solutions for restaurants, including a cloud-based Point of Sale (POS) system.

History
Chowbus was conceived from the experiences of co-founder Linxin Wen, who, upon moving to the U.S., realized the difficulty of finding genuine Asian restaurants on existing delivery platforms and the high costs associated with their delivery services. Inspired by this challenge, Wen, along with Suyu Zhang, launched Chowbus in 2016 to support these restaurants by providing a dedicated platform.

Starting with a focus on delivery, Chowbus soon extended its reach to over 20 cities across North America, Canada, and Australia, featuring menus in multiple languages including Mandarin and Cantonese. The platform offered a selection of Asian cuisines such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Indian. By 2022, alongside its successful delivery model, Chowbus expanded into the SaaS market, introducing restaurant management software and POS services. This shift aimed to support especially those restaurant owners new to the country, helping them with technological and marketing needs.

Business Model and Strategic Shifts
On January 25, 2024, Chowbus announced a significant change in its business model when Fantuan Delivery, another Asian-food delivery service based in Vancouver, acquired its food delivery operations. Post-acquisition, Chowbus has shifted its focus entirely towards the development and enhancement of its SaaS and POS solutions for restaurants.

Funding
Throughout its development, Chowbus has successfully raised a total of $108.3 million across seven funding rounds. The company's funding journey began with a $4 million seed round led by Greycroft Partners and FJ Labs. Notably, in July 2020, Chowbus secured a $33 million Series A funding round, followed by an additional $30 million from existing investors in October of the same year.

Most recently, on August 3, 2023, Chowbus raised $40 million in a round that included investors such as Prysm Capital, FJ LAbs, and Celtic House Asia Partners.

Recognition
In recognition of its rapid growth and impact, Chowbus was listed in the Marketplace 100 by Andreessen Horowitz in February 2020. Ranking No. 78, Chowbus was highlighted as one of the largest and fastest-growing consumer-facing marketplace startups in the U.S., and it stood out as one of only 13 companies from the Midwest featured in this prestigious list, including seven from Chicago.