Restaurant operators today are navigating one of the most complex environments the industry has ever faced. Inflation, rising taxes, higher labor costs, and shifting consumer expectations are putting sustained pressure on profitability. Many operators are searching for ways to tighten operations without sacrificing guest experience—a balance that increasingly points toward smarter use of data and automation.
Against this backdrop, London-based restaurant technology company Nory has raised $37 million in a Series B financing round led by Swedish investment firm Kinnevik. The new funding brings Nory’s total capital raised to $62.6 million, coming just one year after its $25 million Series A. Other investors include Accel, Base10, Triple Point, and Samaipata.
Founded by Conor Sheridan, Nory has positioned itself as an AI-powered operating system designed specifically for restaurants. Rather than serving as a point solution, the platform integrates core functions such as labor scheduling, demand forecasting, procurement, and cost control into a single AI-driven environment. The goal is to help operators run leaner and more profitably, while freeing up teams to focus on service and hospitality.
According to the company, operators using Nory have reported average reductions in operating costs of nearly 20 percent, with some clients seeing net profit improvements of up to 50 percent. Time savings are also part of the equation: customers have cited administrative reductions of more than 100 hours per month.
The platform’s customer base has grown quickly since its Series A. Clients range from independents to international groups such as Black Sheep Coffee, Jamie Oliver Group, and Dave’s Hot Chicken. This mix suggests Nory is attempting to serve both mid-sized operators and larger enterprise chains—a competitive segment already populated by established players including Toast, Restaurant365, and NCR Voyix, as well as a growing field of AI-enabled startups.
The Series B funding will support further product development, including autonomous AI assistants that the company says will handle routine management tasks in real time. It will also back Nory’s expansion into the United States, by far the largest and most competitive restaurant market. That move will put the company into direct competition with North American incumbents that have invested heavily in AI-driven forecasting, labor optimization, and business intelligence.
Sheridan emphasizes that Nory’s strategy is less about futuristic robotics or guest-facing gimmicks and more about back-of-house intelligence. “The future of hospitality isn’t robots,” he said in announcing the raise. “It’s AI that makes restaurants smarter, leaner, and more profitable, with automation that frees teams up to focus on what matters: great food and even greater customer experiences.”
Investor enthusiasm appears to reflect confidence in that vision. “Nory is rewriting the hospitality playbook,” said José Gaytán de Ayala of Kinnevik. “With our support, Nory will go even deeper on AI and bring the next wave of innovation to restaurant owners in the UK and beyond.”
Still, the competitive landscape is tightening. U.S.-based players such as Restaurant365 and 7shifts have been expanding their own AI-powered forecasting and scheduling tools. Enterprise software vendors are also pushing into the space with suites that promise end-to-end operational visibility. Nory’s success in scaling across both mid-market and enterprise operators will likely hinge on whether it can demonstrate measurable ROI beyond early case studies.
For operators, the growing availability of AI-driven management tools underscores an important shift: technology is no longer just about digitizing manual processes, but about enabling a level of precision and agility that was once impossible. As margins remain under pressure, adoption of platforms like Nory will likely depend on how convincingly they can demonstrate impact on both sides of the profit equation—lowering costs while driving higher throughput, consistency, and guest satisfaction.
With $37 million in new funding and ambitions to expand into the U.S., Nory has put itself squarely into the conversation about the future of restaurant operations. For operators weighing their next investment in technology, the company’s progress will be closely watched as the AI race in hospitality continues to accelerate.
