Business Finance Media Technology Policy Wealth Insights Interviews

Art Art Fairs Art Market Art Reviews Auctions Galleries Museums Interviews

Lifestyle Nightlife & Dining Style Travel Interviews

Power Index Nightlife & Dining Art A.I. PR

About About Observer Advertise With Us Reprints

How inKind CEO Johann Moonesinghe Is Trying to Fix the Restaurant Business

Johann Moonesinghe’s platform promises a rare win-win for diners, restaurateurs and investors alike.

Restaurants are a notoriously tough and thankless business. Even the good ones can be financially fragile. That’s why it’s almost unheard of for venture capitalists to back them. But inKind, a platform that writes checks ranging from $100,000 to $10 million to thousands of restaurants, comes close. Its founder and CEO, Johann Moonesinghe, believes he has found a formula that lets everyone win: investors, restaurant owners and customers alike.

Sign Up For Our Daily Newsletter

Thank you for signing up!

By clicking submit, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge we may use your information to send you emails, product samples, and promotions on this website and other properties. You can opt out anytime.

inKind operates an app that functions like a ClassPass for restaurants and bars. It sells dining credits that can be used at thousands of restaurants on the platform—plus a 20 percent reward that can be redeemed on a future visit. The appeal for diners is obvious.

Behind the scenes, however, the model is more unusual. inKind raises money from investors and uses those funds to finance........

© Observer