Rome-based startup Bestie Bite, which offers video-based reviews and AI insights for restaurants and hotels, has secured $700,000 in a funding round led by Techstars.
- Founded in 2024 by Carlotta Robbe Di Lorenzo and Caterina Vertefeuille, Bestie Bite is an app that allows users to discover and review restaurants, bars, and hotels through short, authentic videos.
- The platform converts user-generated content into AI-processed insights, enabling restaurants and hospitality businesses to analyze customer sentiment and service quality in real time.
- Users interact with the app in three steps: they explore new venues via video, submit their own video reviews of the experience, and earn points that can be converted into cashback.
- The app also features missions where users complete tasks such as visiting a specific venue and recording a video to earn extra points. Bestie Bite leverages AI to process and transform real customer videos into actionable data and ready-to-use content for hospitality businesses, creating a feedback loop between consumers and venues.
Details of the deal
- The funding round was led by Techstars, with support from Zooga VC, Mamba Ventures, and several Italian and international business angels, including Christian Marcon, Angelo La Rocca, and Claudio Vaccaro.
- Bestie Bite will use the $700,000 funding to improve its AI-driven app, expand the team in product, engineering, and business development, invest in marketing and growth initiatives for users and restaurants, and begin its initial international expansion.
"We built Bestie Bite starting from a real problem we face every day: choosing a restaurant shouldn’t require luck or hours spent reading unreliable reviews. This round allows us to accelerate a revolution already in motion: restoring authenticity to dining experiences and giving every restaurant simple tools to communicate with transparency," claims Carlotta Robbe Di Lorenzo, co-founder of Bestie Bite.
