TouchBistro Inc., a Toronto-based startup that provides restaurants with specialized point-of-sale software, is close to raising an additional $70 million in a new financing round, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The new financing deal values TouchBistro at about $200 million and is led by OMERS Ventures, the venture-capital arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System pension fund, the sources told BNN Bloomberg.

“For a startup that’s leading the market in point-of-sale and on the [iTunes] app store, this financing is a big deal,” one of the sources said in an interview. “For someone like OMERS to put money in, it legitimizes the company.”

TouchBistro was founded in 2010 and has emerged as one of the most popular point-of-sales software applications among North American restaurants. The startup has partnered with 12,000 restaurants in 100 countries and has processed more than $6 billion worth of transactions, the company said on its website.

TouchBistro’s app allows restaurant staff to take orders from customers, process payments, and manage employees and inventory. It also provides analytics to help owners make critical sales and staffing decisions.

TouchBistro CEO Alex Barrotti declined to comment when reached by BNN Bloomberg.

The startup partnered with U.S. bank JP Morgan Chase in March to provide instant payment processing and a new mobile device that allows customers to pay at their table.

Much of the new financing will go toward expanding TouchBistro’s app across major restaurant chains across the U.S. and Latin American countries, one of the sources said. While the company has focused mainly on independent and smaller restaurant groups, it plans to use its latest capital injection to target bigger restaurant groups such as Olive Garden parent company Darden Restaurants and Bloomin’ Brands, which owns Outback Steakhouse, one of the sources said. 

TouchBistro previously raised $33 million in venture financing and counts U.S. private equity firm Napier Park Financial Partners, Japanese-based Recruit Holdings Co. Ltd. and BDC Capital among its investors.

The startup’s new financing comes on the heels of another Toronto food e-commerce startup Ritual Technologies Inc. raising US$70 million, in the latest sign of the country’s maturing technology sector. Canadian venture-capital financing hit $690 million over 139 deals in the first quarter of 2018, up six per cent from the same quarter a year earlier, according to the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association.