Sure the latest initiatives from the Teslas, Apples and Googles of the industry tend to dominate the tech news space — and with good reason. Still, the tech titans aren’t the only ones bringing innovation to the sector.
In an effort to highlight up-and-coming startups, Built In has launched The Future 5 across eight major U.S. tech hubs. Each quarter, we will feature five tech startups, nonprofits or entrepreneurs in each of these hubs who just might be working on the next big thing. You can check out last quarter’s Seattle round-up here.
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Imagine dining out with a close-knit group of friends, but one person who lives several states away can’t join. CHEQ wants to make that empty seat at the table feel filled. With its social ordering and payment solution, that far-away friend could order your favorite cocktail right to your table.
Tom Lapham spent several years abroad in China where he was exposed to this kind of technology. When he returned stateside, however, he found the same tech wasn’t available in the U.S. While there are apps for sending money to people digitally, these tools lack the personal touch Lapham was searching for when it came to keeping close ties with his friends across long distances.
This realization led him to found CHEQ in 2021. The solution allows someone to virtually treat another person to a menu item at a nearby restaurant, cafe or bar. The sender can customize their virtual gift with various images, gifs, messages and the like. After the order’s been placed, the recipient can redeem their gift by presenting the scannable code at the bottom of their virtual receipt to the restaurant.
CHEQ’s platform can also be used to place one’s own orders ahead of visiting a restaurant, shortening their wait time. While these mobile ordering capabilities offer convenience to users, the platform’s main focus is to foster a sense of connection.
CHEQ’s mission is to help people connect with those they care about when they can’t be there in person.
“Two things have happened that have left us really disconnected in the world, and one has been social media, [of] which the purpose has been to try to connect people but actually, I think it’s done the opposite,” Lapham said. “And then you had the pandemic on top of that, and we just couldn’t physically go out and see people. I think people are in need of more of [a] human touch.”
CHEQ also offers payment processing tech for venues and restaurants in addition to its consumer-facing platform. The company has partnerships with several sports teams and operates software in their stadiums. Its solution is active in Miami, Seattle, Nashville and Washington, D.C.
What we’re focused on is providing the technology as a way to make your experience better, but not dictating to you how you should do it.”
The company’s product allows people to make on-premise transactions however they’d like, from self-service point-of-sale kiosks at food stands to mobile orders from their phones. By installing its transaction software in stadium venues, CHEQ gains user traffic from thousands of game attendees. In addition, the concessionaries inside the stadiums using CHEQ’s platform may later decide to incorporate the system’s capabilities into their separate restaurant venues.
“What we’re focused on is providing the technology as a way to make your experience better, but not dictating to you how you should do it,” Lapham said.
Expanding its reach is a key part of CHEQ’s ultimate goal to become the world’s leading social payments platform. The company is currently receiving more inquiries from professional teams than it can handle, Lapham said. CHEQ recently secured a round of seed funding that will go toward onboarding these new customers.
