Just Eat invests £3.5m in Time Out's mobile payment app Flypay

Time Out magazine’s associate company Flypay, a mobile payment application for the hospitality industry, won a £3.5m investment from online food delivery company Just Eat.

After FTSE 250 listed Just Eat’s investment, Time Out, which is best known for its city guides, will own a 38% stake in Flypay, which is part of the company's strategy to monetise local businesses and become a global multi-media and entertainment business.

The funding will accelerate Flypay’s growth plans for its new Flyt platform, which has the potential to transform technology for consumers, restaurants, pubs and bars, particularly in the casual dining sector, as it allows integration between several technology services such as bookings, payment, loyalty schemes, delivery and reviews.

Time Out chief executive Julio Bruno, said: “We invested in Flypay because it's a hugely innovative company …The ecosystem being built by Flypay is expanding fast and the investment by such a pioneering company as Just Eat proves just how valuable this business and its growth opportunity is.

“For Time Out this is a strategic investment in the future of our mobile business to business solutions for enterprise and hospitality clients. We believe it will enable us to integrate more closely with partners in the leisure and hospitality space and this will allow us to monetise businesses - one of our key strategic objectives."

Time Out recently opened a food market in Lisbon and plans to open similar markets in London, New York and Miami.

Shares in Time Out were up 0.36% to 139p at 1049 BST and shares in Just Eat were up 0.18% to 560p at 1050 BST.