The all-in-one SaaS platform for independent restaurants, processing 1.5 million orders a month across nine CEE markets, is now targeting Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, and the Netherlands.
Choice, the restaurant management platform founded in Prague, which integrates ordering, payments, reservations, and marketplace connections into one subscription, has secured a $7.1 million Series A. This raises total funding to $11.6 million and supports the company’s expansion into Western Europe, starting with Portugal this year.
The round was led by Alea Capital Partners, a B2B SaaS investor from Lisbon, with participation from existing investors Reflex Capital, Smartlink, and J&T Ventures. Alea will specifically assist in scaling Choice across Southern Europe, beginning with Portugal as the initial Western European entry point, before extending to Spain and Italy. Plans for France, Germany, and the Netherlands are set for future phases.
Founded in 2021 by Alex Ilyash, Volodymyr Olyanitsky, and Robert Novosad, Choice initially aimed to provide an online presence for restaurants. It has evolved into a comprehensive system for independent and multi-location venues: offering a website builder with a custom domain, commission-free takeaway and delivery ordering, QR menus, QR payments, integrated table reservations, connections to major delivery platforms like Wolt and Uber Eats, loyalty programs, and POS integration, all managed through a single admin panel with one subscription.
Choice promotes itself on its consolidation approach, addressing the fragmented restaurant tech market, where individual solutions create data silos and operational challenges. By replacing multiple systems with one subscription, Choice helps independent restaurants manage costs and centralize customer data.
Alex Ilyash, Founder and CEO, states, “We understand the fragmentation of the European restaurant market and the need for localization. But we see this as a competitive advantage. We know how to scale in Europe. By combining strong local sales teams, efficient capital deployment from our CEE base, and AI-driven product innovation, we are confident we can win market by market.”
Currently, Choice serves over 30,000 registered restaurants, with more than 7,000 paying customers across nine Central and Eastern European markets: the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, and Romania. It processes over 1.5 million monthly orders, representing about €35 million in monthly GMV. Choice reports doubled growth year-over-year and started 2026 with approximately $5 million in annualized recurring revenue, a figure verified by Alea Capital’s founder Rui Escaleira.
Rui Escaleira, Co-Founder of Alea Capital Partners, said, “Choice is addressing one of the most pressing challenges facing restaurants today: operating efficiently in a highly dynamic market with structurally tight margins. By giving restaurants greater control over digital ordering, additional revenue generation, and a more balanced relationship with delivery platforms, Choice helps operators protect profitability while improving the end-customer experience.”
Alea Capital, founded in 2021 and based in Lisbon, invests in B2B SaaS companies with demonstrated product-market fit and potential for international growth. Past investments include Feelit and Reckon.ai. It’s positioned well for Choice’s Southern European entry, providing local insights and networks for strategic expansion.
The new funding will focus on product development, including AI-integrated modules, and sales and marketing in target regions. Choice plans to recruit local sales and customer success teams for each new market, continuing the approach that characterized its CEE expansion.
J&T Ventures, which led Choice’s previous late-seed round, remains an investor in this round. Reflex Capital, a Czech VC firm, and Smartlink, a Slovak fund, complete the investment table.