The restaurant technology company has reached a $2.3 billion valuation as it expands an AI platform designed to give independent businesses access to sophisticated marketing and technology tools traditionally available to large corporations.

San Francisco-based Owner has raised $240 million in new funding as the fast-growing restaurant technology company looks to expand its AI-powered platform beyond restaurants and into millions of local businesses.

The financing was led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, with participation from existing investors Meritech, Redpoint, Headline and Jack Altman.

Founded in 2020 by Adam Guild and Dean Bloembergen, Owner is building what it describes as an AI chief marketing officer and chief technology officer for local businesses. Rather than requiring small business owners to coordinate multiple technology vendors and marketing services, Owner provides an integrated platform that can build, operate, and improve much of a company’s digital infrastructure.

The platform currently includes websites, online ordering, mobile apps, customer relationship management, customer support, point-of-sale technology, and AI-powered phone ordering.

Behind those services are AI agents designed to manage and optimize different parts of a business continually.

Owner Brings Enterprise-Level AI to Independent Restaurants

Large restaurant chains can invest heavily in technology, customer acquisition, mobile ordering, and loyalty programs. Independent restaurants typically operate with much smaller budgets and teams.

Owner is attempting to narrow that competitive gap.

A restaurant owner can communicate with the Owner platform much as they would with a member of their staff. For example, an operator seeking to promote a particular menu item can ask the system to launch a campaign.

Owner’s AI agents can then create the promotion, update the restaurant’s website, develop marketing materials, and publish the campaign.

The technology can also answer incoming phone calls, take customer orders, respond to reviews and emails, and assist customers, automating work that might otherwise require additional employees or outside agencies.

“The world is racing to build AI to replace people’s jobs. Owner is building AI to do the opposite: to do the jobs many small business owners have never been able to afford,” said Guild, Owner’s co-founder and CEO.

The company’s long-term objective is to provide independent businesses with technology capabilities comparable to those of much larger competitors.

Owner Surpasses $100 Million in Annual Recurring Revenue

Owner’s growth provides evidence of the demand for technology aimed specifically at independent restaurants.

The company has now surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue, according to the funding announcement.

Independent restaurant owners are expected to generate more than $1 billion in sales through the Owner platform this year. Thousands of businesses currently use the technology, while more than 100 million U.S. consumers have interacted with businesses powered by Owner.

The company also says its platform now operates across more U.S. locations than either Domino’s or Taco Bell.

Owner reports measurable improvements for restaurants adopting the platform. Restaurants increase online traffic by an average of 40% within 30 days of launching, according to the company, while the average restaurant increases direct online revenue by more than 40% during its first year.

Customers using a restaurant’s branded mobile application also reorder at approximately twice the rate of customers who do not use the app.

AI Could Change How Small Businesses Compete

Owner’s funding comes as artificial intelligence increasingly moves beyond large enterprises and technology companies into everyday business operations.

For independent businesses, the potential impact could be significant.

Local restaurants, salons, grocery stores, and service businesses often lack dedicated departments for technology, marketing, analytics, and customer engagement. AI agents could allow those companies to automate portions of those functions without building large internal teams.

The owner’s workforce reflects its focus on combining entrepreneurship and technology. Its team includes executives and employees with experience at Shopify, DoorDash, Compass, Salesforce and HubSpot, while more than 35 team members are themselves former founders.

The company is also using AI internally to accelerate product development, saying it can now build in weeks or months what previously might have required years.

Owner Plans Expansion Beyond Restaurants

Restaurants are only the starting point for Owner’s ambitions.

Following the $240 million financing, the company plans to increase its presence among independent restaurants throughout the United States, expand internationally, and eventually bring its AI platform to additional categories of local businesses.

Future markets could include salons, spas, independent grocery stores, and other neighborhood businesses that face many of the same technology and marketing challenges as restaurants.

For Owner, the larger opportunity is not simply building another restaurant software platform. It is developing an AI-native operating system for local businesses, giving entrepreneurs access to technology and expertise that historically required substantially greater financial resources.

As AI becomes more capable of executing business functions autonomously, Owner is betting that one of its most important applications will be helping smaller companies compete with much larger ones.