$24 million to the in-restaurant loyalty play

Wow she’s writing about Blackbird again

It’s all been leading up to this. 

That’s the story from Blackbird founder Ben Leventhal, who also launched Eater, and later, Resy, about his newest venture. On Wednesday, Blackbird announced $24 million in Series A funding led by a16z. In a blog post, a16z crypto general partner Arianna Simpson writes that Leventhal told her, “I’ve been working toward this my entire life.” 

It’s been almost exactly a year since Leventhal started talking about Blackbird publicly, most notably, in my opinion, with a fun audio interview in this newsletter. I’ve mentioned the technology an… alarming number of times given its size and scope; Blackbird is live in just over 20 restaurants right now, with around 80 total signed on to use the tech. 

What is it about this company that makes it irresistible Expedite bait? Aside from a founder with a successful industry track record, it has to be the dedication to the cause: building technology for independent restaurants.

Plenty of restaurant tech companies start by serving independent restaurants. Fewer keep the narrow focus. 

It’s fun to think that the future of restaurants could be the neighborhood spot around the corner from your house.