This article is a part of Poland Unpacked. Weekly intelligence for decision-makers
Polish restaurant management software provider GoPOS is growing at a rate of around 50% annually. Now, with backing from Spire Capital Partners, it plans to accelerate expansion, introduce artificial intelligence, and acquire competitors. The private equity fund itself still has more than PLN 100 million available for further investments.
The pandemic transformed the restaurant industry more profoundly than years of previous development. Demand for digital solutions surged, attracting growing interest from investors in the companies providing them.
In recent years, not only startups such as Embargo and Restimo have secured backing from prominent investors, but also more established businesses. Wirtualna Polska invested almost PLN 20 million in Restaumatic. Now another company with a well-established market position has attracted a financial partner.
GoPOS investment marks the beginning of a planned market consolidation
GoPOS provides a comprehensive restaurant management system through a software-as-a-service (SaaS) subscription model.
Private equity fund Spire Capital Partners has acquired a substantial minority stake, amounting to several dozen percent, by purchasing shares from existing owners and injecting new capital into the company.
Neither party has disclosed the transaction's value. According to XYZ's findings, GoPOS was valued at several dozen million złoty. Spire typically invests EUR 5–15 million, or approximately PLN 20–65 million, per transaction.
For the fund, however, this investment is only the beginning of a more ambitious strategy. Spire has spent more than four years monitoring the market and holding discussions with industry participants.
"From several dozen companies, we selected around ten worth considering for potential consolidation around GoPOS. They include businesses valued at several million złoty as well as those worth more than ten million. There are various possible scenarios regarding the number and size of companies we could integrate into GoPOS. We are not setting specific acquisition targets, however. For now, organic growth remains the priority," says Arkadiusz Podziewski, partner and co-founder of Spire Capital Partners.
From major clients to 6,500 hospitality locations
The company was founded in 2016 by Grzegorz Kożuchowski, Dawid Knapik, Karol Kapcia, and Łukasz Zapaśnik.
From the outset, they developed a comprehensive range of tools for the hospitality industry, covering everything from a customer's first interaction with a restaurant to payment processing and data analysis.
Their integrated ecosystem combines sales, waiter service, self-service solutions such as kiosks and QR-code menus, delivery management, inventory and staff management, and loyalty programs.
"Unlike many of our competitors, we didn't start with individual restaurants. We focused on large, demanding hospitality businesses, such as hotel and resort complexes, amusement parks, and restaurant chains. Many of the customers we acquired back then are still with us today," says Grzegorz Kożuchowski, CEO and co-founder of GoPOS.
During its first few years, GoPOS served between 50 and 100 major clients. It was only during the COVID-19 pandemic that the company expanded its offering to small and medium-sized businesses.
Growing demand for delivery services and integration with food-ordering platforms accelerated the migration of its systems to the cloud.
"After our first five years, we had 200–300 customers. Over the following five years, we increased that number to 6,500. Today, medium-sized businesses account for more than a third of our revenue. Large companies contribute a slightly smaller share, while small businesses account for the least," explains Kożuchowski.
Expert's perspective
A fragmented market attracts investors
First, the sector has significantly accelerated its digital transformation. This is largely driven by difficulties in recruiting staff, customer expectations regarding both in-person and online service, and regulatory requirements.
As a result, restaurant operators increasingly expect more than a standalone cash register or point-of-sale system. They want an entire technology ecosystem covering POS systems, payments, online ordering, deliveries, self-service kiosks, loyalty programs, and restaurant management.
This allows technology providers to integrate their solutions more deeply into restaurants' core operations, encouraging long-term relationships.
The POS segment appears particularly attractive because it can serve as the entry point to a restaurant's entire technology ecosystem.
Payment integration also offers significant potential. With the right business model, it allows providers to supplement software revenues with income generated from processing transactions.
The attractiveness of these businesses therefore goes beyond subscriptions or selling additional software modules. It also includes the opportunity to generate revenue from customers' payments.
Second, from a financial investor's perspective, these businesses can develop highly attractive characteristics as they scale: recurring revenues, relatively strong customer retention, and opportunities to sell additional products to existing customers.
Once a local technology provider becomes mature enough to use external capital to accelerate expansion rather than prove its product works, it becomes interesting to private equity investors.
Moreover, the market remains relatively fragmented. Many companies are still small or are investing in growth at the expense of short-term profitability. This creates opportunities for consolidation.
I believe that over the coming years we may see larger platforms gradually emerge, growing both organically and through acquisitions of smaller, specialized providers serving particular sectors or offering specific technologies.
The key question will be who can build the broadest yet most coherent ecosystem the fastest.
From a private equity perspective, this creates the potential for an attractive investment exit. It is easy to imagine such market leaders attracting interest from global hospitality software and payment providers, part of the broader market for specialized subscription-based technologies for small and medium-sized businesses.
Plenty of tools, but few comprehensive solutions
GoPOS estimates that approximately 75% of Poland's more than 90,000 food-service establishments still rely on traditional cash registers or older sales systems. The remainder have adopted cloud-integrated POS solutions.
"Although the overall market is growing by just a few percent annually, I believe the cloud-based POS segment is expanding much faster – by approximately 20% a year," says Kożuchowski.
He acknowledges that numerous technology providers have entered the market in recent years, with new competitors emerging almost every month.
AI tools have made it considerably easier to develop simple digital products.
"Most of these companies, however, solve only one problem for restaurant operators, such as integrating different food-ordering platforms.
"To manage their own deliveries, analyze data, or handle other processes, restaurants need additional tools.
"The key to success is building and integrating an entire ecosystem. Only a handful of companies offer a range of solutions comparable to ours, and they often focus on different customer segments," the entrepreneur explains.
Processing PLN 8 billion in hospitality transactions
GoPOS says its customers rarely abandon its system in favor of competitors.
A greater challenge comes from the high turnover of businesses in the restaurant industry. Increasingly, however, the constant opening and closing of establishments is working in its favor.
"Entrepreneurs opening new restaurants are more receptive to modern technologies.
"Meanwhile, owners of multiple locations are often willing to test new solutions when relocating an establishment and then roll them out across the entire group.
"Our market position is now strong enough that, according to our estimates, roughly one in three new customers looking for a cloud-based POS system approaches us directly," says Kożuchowski.
The company has been growing by several dozen percent annually for years.
Between 2023 and 2025, GoPOS almost doubled its revenue to PLN 15.3 million. It recorded nearly PLN 1 million in operating profit last year and employs almost 80 people.
The gross merchandise value (GMV) generated by businesses using its systems amounts to approximately PLN 8 billion.
Private Equity instead of Venture Capital
Early in its development, GoPOS received support from three individual investors with ties to the hospitality industry: Cory Radel, Timur Edires, and Bartosz Strzelec.
For most of its history, however, the company financed expansion through its own revenues.
It held discussions with various potential investors over the years, but none of the earlier proposals met its valuation expectations.
"Besides, we didn't feel the need to raise external capital.
"I don't believe we missed an opportunity by choosing not to pursue venture capital financing. We're growing faster than other companies in our industry that raised such funding at an earlier stage.
"It's also worth emphasizing that our original investors are still with us, demonstrating their continued confidence in our vision," says Kożuchowski.
Now, however, the company believes the time is right to accelerate.
The coming years are expected to be crucial for GoPOS
Other investors were interested in the business, but Spire's offer stood out not only because of its valuation but also because of the fund's management team.
Spire, in turn, was attracted by both the market's potential and GoPOS's position within it.
"Poland has a very large number of restaurants, and most have yet to complete their digital transformation. Tens of thousands of establishments still need POS solutions.
"The pandemic, which forced many restaurants to close, highlighted the need to improve business efficiency through technology.
"GoPOS stands out significantly from its competitors in terms of its market position, revenue growth, and profitability," says Daniel Dąbrowski, Investment Director at Spire Capital Partners.
Good to know
A clear message from the market
Research conducted by Made For Restaurant and ARC Rynek i Opinia shows that, despite the opportunities offered by new technologies, restaurant customers still prefer direct interaction with staff.
According to the study, 70% prefer personal contact when ordering, 62% when paying, and 80% when receiving table service.
At the same time, consumers appreciate digital solutions that deliver clear benefits, such as app-based loyalty programs or the ability to order food online before arriving at a restaurant.
From restaurant operators' perspective, technology offers the greatest potential in improving everyday operations, from purchasing and inventory management to cost control.
Automating these processes can help reduce expenses and make better use of available resources, creating opportunities to improve profitability and expand the business.
Ambitious growth plans and an AI push
GoPOS already operates across all segments of the hospitality industry – hotels, restaurants, and catering – on which it intends to focus.
Its technology is also used by businesses outside hospitality, including retailers and service providers. For now, however, the company does not plan an aggressive expansion into these sectors.
"Our ecosystem already covers all the key processes in the restaurant industry, although we still see room to develop new features, such as online reservations.
"At the same time, we are moving toward an AI-first approach, in which artificial intelligence plays a central role.
"We plan to launch our first AI-powered solutions in the coming months," Kożuchowski announces.
He acknowledges that maintaining annual growth of approximately 50% in monthly recurring revenue (MRR) from subscriptions will be challenging.
Nevertheless, he believes the company has a realistic chance of sustaining that pace over the coming years with its new investor's support.
"We are doing well at upselling because we can replace several separate, collectively more expensive systems with one integrated solution.
"We expect that, within a few years, selling additional features to existing customers will account for most of our revenue growth.
"At the same time, we would like to expand our customer base by around 30% annually. Over the next 12 months, we plan to add between 1,500 and 2,000 customers," says the GoPOS CEO.
Expert's perspective
Restaurants want technology, but not everywhere
They readily use reservation and ordering tools, as well as modern payment methods. Once they are at a restaurant, however, they still expect direct interaction with a waiter.
QR codes that facilitate self-service, popular in Western countries, have not proved particularly successful in Poland.
Much depends on the type of restaurant. Fine-dining establishments, where the overall guest experience is particularly important, place the greatest emphasis on personal interaction.
However, according to Statistics Poland (GUS), these restaurants account for only a few percent of the approximately 100,000 food-service establishments in the country.
Restaurant operators generally remain cautious and skeptical about new technologies.
Some justify this by emphasizing the importance of hospitality and building direct relationships with customers.
High staff turnover is another problem. Every new employee must be trained to use all the systems a restaurant relies on.
Operators do appreciate technologies that support back-office operations.
Systems that simplify inventory planning and management, replace multiple tablets used for different ordering platforms, or streamline reservations allow restaurant owners to focus on their core business.
They also improve profitability, which is particularly difficult to maintain in this industry. A restaurant's finances can slip into the red very quickly.
Restaurant owners are highly receptive to technologies that help them make money.
They appreciate comprehensive solutions such as GoPOS that take numerous operational responsibilities off their shoulders.
GoPOS has already established a reputation in the market as a highly ambitious and effective company.
The goal: building a pan-European platform
GoPOS already serves individual customers in countries including Spain and even Zanzibar, reinforcing its confidence in the potential for international expansion.
For the next year, however, the company intends to concentrate on its domestic market.
"Our goal is to continue strong organic growth and potentially accelerate expansion through acquisitions of smaller players.
"We want to strengthen our position as the undisputed market leader in Poland and ultimately build a pan-European platform," emphasizes Kożuchowski.
"We have been monitoring SaaS technologies for the hospitality industry for a good four years.
"That was when we first came across GoPOS. At the time, the company was still too small for us, so we continued following its progress.
"About a year ago, we resumed discussions about jointly consolidating the Polish market.
"GoPOS is now ready to potentially become such a consolidation platform. Accelerating organic growth, however, remains the priority," concludes Arkadiusz Podziewski.
Spire still has money to invest – but exits are approaching
Founded in 2021, Spire is Poland's youngest domestic private equity firm, although its founders have many years of industry experience.
It completed fundraising for its first investment vehicle in 2025, securing EUR 90 million, or approximately PLN 400 million.
Its backers include major financial institutions such as the Polish Development Fund, the European Investment Fund, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
The investor base also includes prominent entrepreneurs, among them the Bajołek family, associated with the creation of brands including Medicine and Answear.com.
Spire generally acquires majority stakes in companies. It focuses on businesses in Central and Eastern Europe operating across various sectors but with a strong technological component.
Its portfolio already comprises nine companies, including Neo Hospital, which specializes in robotic surgery; Betasi, a hotel software provider; and Clicktrans, a platform connecting transport providers with customers.
"We are investing in line with our strategy, which involves close cooperation with company founders, and at the pace we originally planned.
"We still have approximately 25–30% of the EUR 90 million we raised available for investment.
"We expect to complete our final two to four investments under this fund over the next two years.
"As early as next year, we may begin reviewing strategic options for selected portfolio companies," says Podziewski.
Key Takeaways
- GoPOS has secured its first major institutional investor after years of self-financed growth. Founded in 2016, the company initially attracted backing from several individual investors associated with the restaurant industry. For most of the following decade, however, it financed expansion primarily through its own revenue, achieving annual growth rates of several dozen percent without venture capital funding. In 2026, it finally partnered with private equity firm Spire Capital Partners, which typically invests EUR 5–15 million per transaction. The fund acquired a substantial minority stake.
- The company has achieved significant scale and has ambitious plans for further growth. GoPOS provides a subscription-based restaurant management platform covering everything from customer interactions and payments to data analysis. Initially focused on large clients, including hotel complexes, amusement parks, and restaurant chains, it expanded into the broader hospitality market during the pandemic. Within five years, its customer base grew from approximately 300 to 6,500. Those businesses generate around PLN 8 billion in transactions through its systems, while GoPOS itself recorded revenue exceeding PLN 15 million in 2025. The company aims to maintain annual growth of several dozen percent.
- Poland's restaurant technology market offers substantial opportunities for digitalization and consolidation. Most of the country's more than 90,000 food-service establishments have yet to adopt modern cloud-based POS systems. GoPOS and Spire see considerable scope for further growth, with organic expansion remaining their immediate priority. They are also considering acquisitions of smaller technology providers valued at several million to more than ten million złoty, with the longer-term ambition of creating a pan-European restaurant technology platform.