NRD Tech Ventures

NRD Tech Ventures is the technology investing subsidiary of NRD Capital, a private equity firm headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The technology arm was announced in January 2019, formed following NRD Capital's strategic partnership with Atlanta-based Arke Systems and FRM Solutions — firms specializing in digital marketing strategy and CRM for franchise and multi-unit businesses. NRD Capital itself was founded in 2014 by Aziz Hashim, a serial multi-unit franchise operator who built an 80-unit empire spanning 14 brands including KFC, Domino's, Taco Bell, Moe's Southwest Grill, Pizza Hut, Popeye's, and PetValu in Canada. Hashim remains Founder and Managing Partner. NRD Capital is positioned as the first private equity fund sponsored and managed by a multi-unit franchisee, with more than 75 years of collective operational and financial experience across its team and 40-plus multi-unit franchise operators participating as limited partners. NRD Tech Ventures leads rounds and targets early- to mid-stage technology companies serving the restaurant, hospitality, franchise, and healthcare verticals. Portfolio companies include Harri, a talent management platform for hospitality teams; 1Huddle, a gamified employee training application; NEXT, a work-sharing platform for shift swapping; ShiftOne, a mobile employee motivation and operations management app; and ValyantAI, a customer-facing AI system for drive-thru QSR ordering. The firm's competitive edge is direct operating authority: its LP base manages thousands of restaurant locations and can serve as immediate commercial partners, pilot customers, and reference accounts for portfolio companies — a built-in go-to-market advantage that pure financial investors cannot replicate.