Italy’s female-founded HospitalityTech startup Bestie Bite raises €1.5 million to expand its video review app in the US

Bestie Bite, a Rome-based startup democratising marketing for restaurants and streamlining restaurant discovery with its app for video reviews in the hospitality sector, has closed a new €1.5 million fresh-money round as it accelerates its expansion into the United States. 

This round was subscribed through a SAFE instrument and led by the Grassi family through their family holding company G&G, shareholder of E80 Group S.p.A. The additional capital was raised less than four months after the company’s first €700k round led by Techstars, bringing Bestie Bite’s total funding to €2.2 million. 

“We want to change this market. Authenticity is the most valuable and scarce asset on the web: we are building a new standard and a technological layer that brings the full power of artificial intelligence to restaurants, always starting from real content. With this round, we are accelerating from Italy to the United States to make this the global standard,” Carlotta Robbe Di Lorenzo and Caterina Vertefeuille, co-founders of Bestie Bite, said in a joint statement. 

Founded in 2024 by Carlotta Robbe Di Lorenzo and Caterina Vertefeuille, Bestie Bite helps people discover restaurants, bars and hotels through short, real videos created by users. The company also supports restaurants with the first AI-managed video marketing system for the hospitality industry.

According to the company, it’s addressing a problem that stems from two sides that are looking for each other but struggling to connect. It states that on one side are people, especially younger generations, who increasingly find it difficult to discover restaurants, cafés and hotels they can trust. This is caused by unreliable written reviews, fragmented information and content dominated by influencers and sponsored posts. 

On the other side is the restaurant industry, composed mainly of small businesses that often lack the budget or marketing expertise necessary to differentiate themselves online. Valuable local businesses remain invisible precisely when customers are seeking them.

Bestie Bite considers AI as the key solution for both market sides. For consumers, it is an app that understands users’ preferences and search intent, employing artificial intelligence to navigate video content and help them find the right choice more quickly and confidently.

It states that, unlike traditional reviews, each piece of content is based on verification standards and authenticity rules, including authentication, fraud detection, and AI video detection, which the company claims are unique to this platform. 

The platform builds trust by using gamification, offering a cashback system that rewards users who contribute authentic videos. Its most powerful expression comes through Missions at partner restaurants, where cashback is higher and directly connected to the business model.

On the business side, Bestie Bite has introduced an “AI Marketing Employee” for the hospitality industry, which is an artificial intelligence system that takes the place of social media managers and marketing agencies.

Starting with a single authentic video from the Bestie Bite community, the AI generates a full editorial plan for the following month and publishes it autonomously across the venue’s channels, without input from the restaurant owner. The startup highlights that this service is offered at a fraction of the cost of a traditional agency. The platform also provides sentiment analysis and performance insights, allowing businesses to monitor service quality in real time.

The startup reports notable organic growth, with over 100,000 users and more than 120,000 videos uploaded across more than 80 countries worldwide. One of its initial structured use cases is Pescaria, which leverages the platform to acquire reusable video content and conduct ongoing analysis of the customer experience.

One of the primary goals of the round is to consolidate Bestie Bite’s presence in Italy and, most importantly, to enter the US market with a base in San Francisco, a city the team had already explored earlier this year.

During its time in the city, Bestie Bite has already established its first partnerships with notable local clients, including Tony’s Pizza and North Beach Restaurant. The app has thousands of users and over 500 reviewed restaurants in the local market.

Bestie Bite’s operational headquarters are in Rome, at the House of Emerging Technologies, with a second hub at OGR Tech in Turin.

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