UPDATED 08:00 EDT / NOVEMBER 11 2014

Revel Systems raises $100M, CEO talks competition and being a woman in tech

lisa-falzone-revel-headshotSan Francisco based Revel Systems, an iPad based Point of Sale (POS) system, has secured about $100 million Series C funding form New York City based private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS) and other “strategic investors”.

Made up of an initial $65 million investment and a further $25 million equity line available from WCAS, Revel Systems says it will use the funding to boost support and operations in order to meet fast-growing sales and high demand for its iPad POS platform. The funding comes hot on the heels of the announcement last month that Smoothie King will be rolling out Revel Systems iPad POS solution at 700 stores globally.

According to the press release Sanjay Swani, a general partner at WCAS and Co-Head of the WCAS Information/Business Services industry practice, will join Revel’s Board of Directors.

iPad and other Tablet based POS systems have increased in popularity over the last few years. Even well-established POS vendors such as NCR Corporation and MICROS Systems, Inc., have made the transition to offering Tablet based version of their systems.

I asked Revel co-founder and CEO, Liza Falzone (pictured above), how she sees Revel competing against the likes of NCR and Micros. In an email reply she highlighted for me that large players are often slow to change and focus too much on their current day systems rather than the future. She points out that Micros has built their mTablet on Windows; clearly a mistake in her opinion, since “Windows has so many problems with a new hack every day and the need for antivirus, which is just a problem.” She feels Apple is a superior platform for POS systems compared to Windows.

Since Liza Falzone is a female entrepreneur and CEO at the head of a tech company that is clearly having some success, I wanted to know about any personal challenges she has experienced in gaining recognition and drumming up investors. Here is her response:

“I think there are personal challenges as people aren’t use to women in leadership as it’s still fairly rare.  I think this will change as more women take the risk to start companies and keep putting it “on the line.” As a female CEO in tech, there are lots of pervasive myths that can serve to dissuade you (i.e., you have to code to work in tech, you don’t want to come off as “pushy” etc.). Realize that they are in fact myths and that if you have the drive and determination to start your own company, nothing can stop you.”

Wise words from a someone who made the Forbes “30 Under 30” list in 2012.

Image courtesy of Revel Systems

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