Italian Bestie Bite closes €1.5 million round and lands in San Francisco

The additional capital, raised less than four months after the company’s first €700,000 round, brings Bestie Bite’s total funding to €2.2 million and will support the company’s consolidation in Italy and its entry into the US market, with a new base in San Francisco.

The problem: two sides of the market struggling to meet

The problem stems from two sides that are looking for each other but struggling to connect. On one side are people - especially younger generations - who find it increasingly difficult to discover restaurants, cafés and hotels they can trust. Unreliable written reviews, fragmented information and content dominated by influencers and sponsored posts have turned choosing a place into an obstacle course.

On the other side is the restaurant industry, a sector made up of around 90% small businesses that rarely have the budget or marketing expertise needed to stand out online. Valuable local businesses remain invisible precisely when customers are looking for them.

These two issues have become even more acute since the pandemic, as discovery and booking habits have changed radically.

The solution: artificial intelligence on both sides of the market

On the consumer side, Bestie Bite is an app that learns what users like and what they are looking for, using artificial intelligence to guide them through video content towards the right choice, faster and with greater trust.

Unlike traditional reviews, every piece of content is built on verification standards and authenticity rules - including authentication, fraud detection and AI video detection - that are not applied elsewhere. The result is a community where people can genuinely trust what they see.

This virtuous circle is further strengthened by gamification, with 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 introduces the first “AI Marketing Employee” for the hospitality industry: an artificial intelligence system that takes the place of social media managers and marketing agencies.

Starting from a single authentic video created by the Bestie Bite community, the AI generates an entire editorial plan for the following month and publishes it autonomously on the venue’s channels, without the restaurant owner having to lift a finger - and 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 round and the investors

The new round, amounting to €1.5 million in fresh money, was subscribed through a SAFE instrument.

The investment was led by the Grassi family through their family holding company G&G, shareholder of E80 Group S.p.A. The relationship began through social media, after Gabriele Grassi saw a video presentation dedicated to Bestie Bite’s previous round.

Raised less than four months after the first €700,000 round led by Techstars, this capital brings Bestie Bite’s total funding to €2.2 million.

On the legal side, the round was handled by BonelliErede, with a team composed of Managing Associate Enrico Goitre and Associate Elena Cozzupoli, led by Partner Giulia Bianchi Frangipane, who supported the founders through to closing.

Traction

Bestie Bite has recorded significant organic growth: over 100,000 users reached and more than 120,000 videos uploaded across over 80 countries worldwide, with several viral moments that brought the app into the top 10 most downloaded apps in Italy, surpassing global players on multiple occasions.

Among its first structured use cases is Pescaria, which uses the platform to obtain reusable video content and continuous analysis of the customer experience.

US focus: the new base in San Francisco

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

The choice is far from accidental. San Francisco is the world’s leading technology hub, but it is also one of the cities with the highest concentration of restaurants in the world, offering an ideal mix of small businesses and strong consumer adoption.

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

The dialogue with these businesses confirmed the value of a service capable of connecting both sides of the market: helping users discover authentic places they can trust while giving businesses, especially smaller ones, the tools they need to be found.

The founders and the team

Bestie Bite is led by co-founders Carlotta Robbe Di Lorenzo, CEO, and Caterina Vertefeuille, COO, both second-time founders with solid experience in the hospitality industry.

Caterina built her career in hospitality marketing, working for major brands such as Barilla and international chains. Carlotta comes from a background as a sales manager in the same sector.

The two have been working together for over five years and had previously founded a startup in the sustainability space. Their shared entrepreneurial journey and direct experience of the problem led them to identify video as the most transparent and reliable format to tell the story of a venue.

In addition to the founders, the team includes Placido Falqueto, CTO, a Software Engineer with a PhD in AI and Robotics.

«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

About Bestie Bite

Founded in Rome in 2024 by Carlotta Robbe Di Lorenzo and Caterina Vertefeuille, Bestie Bite is the first app dedicated to authentic video reviews in the hospitality sector. The platform helps people discover restaurants, bars and hotels through short, real videos created by users, turning the search for a place into a true “vibe check” before booking. Bestie Bite also supports restaurants with the first AI-managed video marketing system for the hospitality industry.

The platform collects user-generated videos, analyses them and makes them immediately reusable on the business’s social channels through a simple WhatsApp interface. Bestie Bite counts more than 100,000 users and over 120,000 videos uploaded across more than 80 countries. It has repeatedly ranked among the top 10 most downloaded apps in Italy. The company’s operational headquarters are in Rome, at the House of Emerging Technologies, with a second hub at OGR Tech in Turin.