A founder who has carved out a name for himself building products to help restaurants connect better with would-be diners has raised $50 million for his latest startup: a new take on the idea of customer loyalty.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Blackbird Labs<\/a> has built a payments-meets-loyalty-meets-blockchain platform for restaurants to grow repeat business while reducing some of the friction around transactions. Now, with some 1,000 restaurants signed up, CEO Ben Leventhal said Blackbird plans to use the money to launch its newest product, a cross-restaurant \u201cpoints\u201d service it\u2019s calling Blackbird Club, as well as to expand into more markets outside of New York (its headquarters), San Francisco, and Charleston, South Carolina.\u00a0<\/p>\n Why Charleston, you ask? \u201cCharleston punches above its class,\u201d Leventhal said in an interview with TechCrunch. \u201cIt\u2019s a great restaurant city for its size.\u201d It also appears to be Blackbird\u2019s equivalent of New Zealand for Meta, with Leventhal calling it \u201ca good test market for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Spark Capital, a new backer, is leading this latest round, with participation also from Coinbase Ventures, Amex Ventures, and Andreessen Horowitz \u2014 three investors that backed Blackbird in its $24 million Series A in 2023<\/a>. Valuation is not being disclosed, but for a point of reference, PitchBook notes<\/a> that the startup was valued at around $124 million in that last round. The startup has raised $85 million to date.<\/p>\n Coinbase and Amex are strategic names in that list.\u00a0<\/p>\n Amex acquired Resy, a reservations platform that Leventhal previously founded, in 2019<\/a>. The two companies \u2014 Resy and Blackbird \u2014 are not integrating now, but \u201cit\u2019s fair to say we will,\u201d Leventhal said. Prior to Resy, the third restaurant-focused startup Leventhal founded, the food blog Eater, was also acquired: it\u2019s now part of Vox<\/a>. No plans on how or if that\u2019ll lead to a partnership deal.<\/p>\n