SpotOn Retreats From Stadiums to Focus on the Restaurant POS Market

Count one less competitor in the market for advanced point-of-sale technology at stadiums. Shift4 Payments Inc. has agreed to buy SpotOn Transact Inc.’s sports and entertainment business for $100 million in a move that beefs up Shift4’s position in the burgeoning stadium market and marks a retreat by SpotOn from a business it paid a reported $415 million to enter when it acquired Appetize Technologies Inc. in 2021.

But the deal also means Shift4 will face even more intense competition in the restaurant space as San Francisco-based SpotOn concentrates on its mainline dining business. “I’m betting $100 million to them really moved the needle,” says Cliff Gray, a senior associate at TSG (formerly The Strawhecker Group), an Omaha-based payments researcher and consultancy.

“This move enables us to double down on our restaurant business, providing the necessary focus, resources, and investment to become the best restaurant technology company in the business,” said Zach Hyman, co-founder and co-chief executive at SpotOn, in a statement.

SpotOn is also counting on key technology from its venture in stadium POS. “As part of this deal, we have retained ownership of the codebase and are actively developing it as part of our restaurant tech stack,” says Kevin Bryla, SpotOn’s chief technology officer. The company does not disclose its revenue or break it down by percentages by source.

As of last summer, SpotOn provided point-of-sale and digital ordering systems at some 37 stadiums housing teams in the National Football League and the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Digital Transactions News reported at the time. Current data was not immediately available.

Rising competition to serve payments needs at sports venues may have played a big role in SpotOn’s decision to unload its stadium business, some observers say. “A lot of people are trying to get into the stadium space,” says Gray. Opening the market to more technology providers, he adds, is the move to mobile technology, which eases payments for stadium vendors. “A lot of the hurdles aren’t there any more,” he observes. “Vendors can walk around with a phone that’s a [point-of-sale] device.”

Ironically, the shift of its full focus to dining will see SpotOn in even more intense competition not only with Shift4 but with a host of other technology companies fighting for shares of that market as consumers resume eating out in full force. This is where the influx of cash from the sale of its venue business may play a critical role, Gray adds. “That’s a lot of money you can pour into integrations in the restaurant market,” he notes.

That may play a role in SpotOn’s ability to gain more market share in the dining market, which it entered in 2019. Besides Shift4, SpotOn will be up against a long roster of other payments-technology firms , including major names like Toast Inc. and Fiserv Inc.’s Clover. A Shift4 spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on SpotOn.