EMERGING, Promethean launch XPR to back AI for the hospitality sector

EMERGING and Promethean have announced the launch of The Experience Fund (XPR), a USD 300mn vehicle with a USD 500mn hard cap that is co-sponsored 50/50 by the two firms.

XPR formalizes a six-year relationship between the two, as it pairs EMERGING’s origination and operating capabilities with Promethean’s twenty-year history of institutional private equity investing and capital structuring. It will back artificial intelligence, IP holding companies and automation platforms built for hospitality and experiential entertainment. Specifically, it will target the AI, automation and data infrastructure beneath consumer-facing brands that span order and beverage automation, consumer vision, autonomous service, labor and supply-chain intelligence and gaming intellectual property.

The market

The restaurant and foodservice industry is the second-largest private-sector employer in the U.S. with roughly 15.7mn jobs which constitute about 10% of the workforce. Yet, it runs on 35-40% turnover, single-digit margins and heavy manual processes.

EMERGING is an investment and operating platform that is focused on AI and technology for hospitality, competitive social entertainment and experiential hospitality, while Promethean is a U.S. UK—based PE firm.