Hospitality venue payment specialist acquires marketing agency to form “global best-in-class” service

Mobile ordering and payments company Mr Yum has acquired hospitality Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and marketing company Sprout.

The two London based companies will combine, with Sprout’s full-time staff joining Mr Yum to create a global team of more than 260 employees, who will continue building tools for hospitality and entertainment venues in the UK and around the world.

Mr Yum CEO and co-founder Kim Teo says the acquisition will accelerate the company’s mission of connecting venues with their guests in meaningful and valuable ways.

She said: “This deal is an evolution of a successful partnership between our two companies, with Sprout integrated with Mr Yum in many shared locations over the past year, including Boxpark and Swingers crazy golf venues.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Sprout into the Mr Yum family. They’ve built a world-class team and technology solution and we’re excited to pour fuel on the fire and dream big with the innovation that’s possible by combining our two offerings.”

Sprout is the “leading CRM and marketing platform” for hospitality venues with brands including Nando’s, Shake Shack and Accor Hotels using the company’s technology in thousands of locations across the UK, Australia and the US. The acquisition follows Mr Yum’s £58m capital raise in 2021.

Sprout co-founder Andy Marcus says combining the two companies will drive the creation of a “global best-in-class” growth platform for hospitality and entertainment venues.

He added: “Together we’ll be able to rapidly scale solutions to provide venues with deeper and more seamless insights into their customers, which will enable them to provide superior and more meaningful hospitality experiences.

“Integrating our powerful and intuitive CRM into Mr Yum’s industry-leading platform will help create elegant, data-driven one-to-one conversations between venues and their guests for the first time. We are incredibly excited about what the future holds for the company.”