Olo founder and CEO Noah Glass. | Photo courtesy of Olo
Online ordering provider Olo has officially been sold to big investment firm Thoma Bravo.
Olo shareholders on Tuesday approved the $2 billion, all-cash deal, which equates to $10.25 per share of common Olo stock. That was a 65% premium on the company’s share price as of April 30, before news emerged that it was considering a sale.
The deal takes private one of the restaurant industry’s largest tech suppliers after four years on the public markets, during which its stock price declined more than 65%.
[See where Olo sits among the biggest restaurant tech deals ever.]
Olo was founded in 2005 by CEO Noah Glass as a text-to-order mobile app and later evolved into an online ordering system. A wave of adoption during the pandemic propelled the company to an IPO in 2021.
Though it did not ultimately wow Wall Street, Olo continued to grow rapidly, generating average annual revenue growth of 24%. It now works with more than 750 restaurant brands including Dutch Bros and Waffle House, making it the industry’s preeminent online ordering provider.
Olo has also added new products, including digital marketing and payment processing, as it looks to expand its reach beyond online ordering. Its new strategy is to turn digital orders into data that restaurants can use to serve customers better, an idea it calls “hospitality at scale.”
It appears that that mission will continue under Thoma Bravo, a Chicago-based firm with a history of investing in market leaders. In a statement Friday, Partner Hudson Smith said the firm is excited to help continue Olo’s vision for the future of restaurant technology.
“We see enormous potential ahead for them to scale their business, expand their capabilities, and deepen their impact on how restaurants operate and connect with their guests,” Smith said in a statement.
Glass echoed that excitement. “Together, we will take Olo’s mission further by scaling faster and innovating deeper, while continuing to deliver industry-leading reliability and exceptional experiences for restaurants and their guests,” he said in a statement.
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