By
Chimamanda U. Martha
March 28th, 2024
According to Founder and CEO Ben Leventhal, the amount raised will be focused on scaling the firm’s operations.
Blackbird Labs, the team behind Web 3.0 restaurant loyalty platform Blackbird has completed a $24 million Series A funding round. According to a report by TechCrunch, the round was led by Andreessen Horowitz but also saw participation from other venture capitalists.
Other firms that took part in the round include QED, Union Square Ventures, Shine, Variant, and some restaurant groups such as Quality Branded, Rustic Canyon Group, Soulva, and Brooks Reitz.
The Series A fundraiser brings Blackbird’s valuation to $35 million.
Blackbird Labs to Use Fund to Scale Its Operations
According to Founder and CEO Ben Leventhal, the amount raised will be focused on scaling the firm’s operations.
In an email statement to TechCrunch, Leventhal noted that the restaurant business needs money now more than ever. First off, he says the business is a very competitive one, in which staying at the top “can be really expensive”. The CEO also stated that operational costs are presently at an all-time high, so, either way, restaurants must find a way to boost their revenues.
In view of this, Leventhal recommends two ways out; creating new revenue streams or making certain that customers are retained.
This is where the Blackbird’s app comes in. Blackbird helps restaurants to create repeat customers. It does that by tracking a customer’s behavioral pattern such as their preferred seating arrangement or their likes and dislikes. Now, while the repeated check-ins upgrade the customer and give them access to certain rewards, the restaurant also gets to boost its revenue.
Customer rewards sometimes come in the form of crypto, which can be redeemed for a main-course meal, drink or other rewards. So with Blackbird focused on using the new fund to scale its business, the platform appears set to take its services to an even better height.
The firm partnered with the crypto wallet manager Privy to allow its users to have access to their virtual balance. In April 2022, Privy itself did raise $8 million in a seed round that was jointly spearheaded by Sequoia and BlueYard Capital.