This week, Blackbird, a startup constructing a Web3-powered restaurant loyalty platform, introduced it had raised a $24 million Collection A funding spherical led by a16z’s crypto staff with participation from Amex Ventures and Bolt by QED, amongst others.
With the information, the corporate lifted the curtain round its platform and the way it works. When prospects arrive at a restaurant, they provoke membership by tapping their smartphone on Blackbird’s NFC reader. From there, Blackbird points an NFT, which acts as an identification card that retains monitor of the shopper’s relationship with the restaurant. When a buyer returns and faucets with the NFC reader, it acts as a digital handshake that sends information related to a buyer’s membership to the restaurant, equivalent to first and final title, deal with, and eating historical past.
In brief, the platform is designed to work with out burdening the shopper or the restaurant with technical know-how. The Web3 expertise works within the background, making a pockets for purchasers to carry their NFTs and the $FLY tokens earned over time.
It’s clear from the announcement that the corporate just isn’t leaning too closely in branding itself as a Web3 firm however as a substitute emphasizing what founder Ben Leventhal sees as a friction-free, next-generation loyalty platform that helps smaller operators who might not have a big technical employees or inner sources.
“Blackbird works very properly when you couldn’t probably care much less concerning the blockchain,” Leventhal instructed The Spoon. “That’s essential as a result of the adoption of blockchain and the fervour across the blockchain is slightly particular and restricted proper now. And we have to create magic for all visitors, no matter how they give thought to tech, or if they give thought to tech in any respect.”
Nonetheless, whereas Leventhal and Blackbird aren’t emphasizing the platform’s Web3 underpinnings, there’s little doubt that a lot of the thrill across the firm and the explanation it was capable of elevate cash from blue chips like Andreessen Horowitz in a difficult setting is exactly as a result of it’s a web3 firm; there’s a way amongst traders and early companions that the corporate’s expertise may, indirectly, upend the standard restaurant loyalty expertise market.
I requested Leventhal how he thinks his firm’s Web3 tech differentiates itself from what’s on the market as we speak. He pointed to a marketing campaign his early trial companions ran this summer time in partnership with Coinbase referred to as the Summer time Candy Go as a part of Coinbase’s OnChain Summer time.
“If you happen to’re anyone who likes dessert, you’ve a candy tooth, and also you’re in New York in August, we curated eight restaurant desserts for you that you could possibly, by advantage of getting this move in your Blackbird pockets, take pleasure in. I believe that there are doubtlessly a number of layers of neighborhood and connectivity that we will energy for eating places.”
It grew to become clear throughout our dialog that Leventhal thinks his firm can attraction to the passionate – however comparatively small – neighborhood that desires to leverage blockchain and Web3 as we speak to faucet into experiences within the bodily world whereas additionally serving to eating places construct loyalty platforms which have extra headroom to develop sooner or later whereas not placing any vital technical burden on their small staffs or the shopper.
In response to Leventhal, a low technical burden is particularly essential for smaller impartial operators, the kind of buyer that Blackbird is concentrating on.
“We’re making an attempt to give attention to impartial eating places to assist them stage the enjoying subject towards a few of these, you already know, very, very severe rivals,” mentioned Leventhal. “The typical impartial espresso store is competing with Starbucks for his or her prospects. The typical impartial restaurant competes with Sweetgreen and PF Chang’s for his or her prospects. In order that they’re going to wish some instruments to do this successfully.”
That is Leventhal’s third restaurant trade startup. He based the meals media firm Eater practically 20 years in the past earlier than promoting it to Vox and began reservation tech firm Resy in 2013 earlier than promoting it to American Specific in 2019.
I requested Leventhal how issues examine as we speak to these earlier eras.
“Twenty years in the past, and the common restaurant is making ten to 12 % margin,” mentioned Leventhal. “Immediately, it’s three to 4. So, we have to proceed to consider what the long run for eating places appears to be like like. And to me, an enormous a part of the issue just isn’t across the sort of reservations expertise – that’s now a reasonably mature and sturdy space of expertise – I believe it’s about core connectivity to eating places and visitors and giving eating places to profit from their most loyal prospects.”
