Expedition Growth Capital leads growth equity funding to accelerate Nesto’s expansion
KARLSRUHE, GERMANY — April 13, 2026—Nesto Software GmbH (“Nesto”) has secured €11 million in growth equity funding from Expedition Growth Capital. Nesto provides restaurant groups with an AI-driven workforce management platform that automates scheduling, HR workflows, and payroll preparation. The funding will support continued product investment and accelerate the company’s expansion across Europe.
Founded by engineers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Nesto is already deployed across more than 3,000 restaurants and used daily by over 100,000 employees – from independent restaurants to large chains. Nesto’s platform is trusted by major brands including McDonald’s, L’Osteria and Lagardère. The company has grown without institutional capital to date, scaling through strong customer demand.
Labor is the largest controllable cost in hospitality, yet most operators still rely on fragmented systems and manual decision-making. Nesto focuses on this challenge, delivering meaningful profitability impact through an AI-native workforce management layer that combines demand forecasting, workforce planning, and operational execution in a single system.
At the core of the platform is Nesto’s proprietary forecasting engine, which predicts demand and staffing needs in real time. By integrating data across point-of-sale systems, suppliers, payroll providers and more, Nesto automates workforce scheduling, HR processes, payroll preparation and agentic workflows that support managers in their daily operations. The result is that restaurant groups can improve labor productivity by up to 10% while significantly reducing administrative workload.
Felix Kaiser, Co-Founder and CEO of Nesto:
“The hospitality industry is at the beginning of a fundamental AI-driven shift – and operators are feeling it through rising labor costs, staff shortages, and growing complexity. Nesto acts as a digital co-pilot for site managers from demand forecasting and shift planning to real-time operations. A restaurant is only as good as its team, and our platform gives managers and employees the insights and automation to focus on what matters most – incredible food and great guest experiences.”
The new capital will be used to expand Nesto’s AI capabilities, deepen its data platform, and further develop NORA, the company’s AI assistant and agent framework for operational and administrative workflows. In parallel, Nesto will accelerate its rollout into additional European markets.
Dr. Theodor Ackbarow, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Nesto:
“We are deeply rooted in this industry and know first-hand how complex day-to-day life in restaurants and multi-location businesses can be. Our vision is to absorb this complexity through our platform and be a valuable companion to the operator, who can focus on making the final decision. With Expedition, we have found the right partner to support the next chapter of our ambitious growth journey.”
Will Sheldon, Partner at Expedition Growth Capital:
“Hospitality is one of the largest employment sectors globally, yet workforce operations remain highly manual and fragmented. What stands out with Nesto is its evolution into a true system of action for leading restaurant operators – not just surfacing insights, but driving decisions in real time. The team combines deeply technical, data-driven engineers with a strong customer-first mindset, and we are proud to partner with the company as it brings the power of AI to the restaurant industry.”
About Nesto
Nesto is an AI-driven platform for workforce management in the hospitality industry. More than 3,000 restaurants trust Nesto for demand forecasting, automated scheduling, time tracking, and payroll integration.
To learn more or request a demo, visit www.nesto-software.com
About Expedition Growth Capital
Expedition is a software and AI specialist growth equity firm, with offices in London and Boston. Expedition partners with ambitious, rapidly growing software companies that have achieved significant traction with little or no external funding. The firm brings capital for growth initiatives and shareholder liquidity, highly relevant operational expertise, and a trusted track record of respectfully partnering with founders on their path to category leadership. For more information, please see Expedition.capital or follow Expedition on LinkedIn.
Media Contacts
Philipp Streich
philipp.streich@nesto-software.de