There’s a new startup aiming to reward restaurant patrons through crypto.
What’s happening:
- New York based startup Blackbird recently raised a $24M Series A round to advance their mobile app that is changing restaurant rewards via a crypto token
- The round was led by a16z with other notable investors such as Union Square Ventures, Shine, Variant and more
Why it matters:
- Many critiques of crypto is the lack of real world use cases which Blackbird is aiming to put their own unique spin on
- Very few venture backed startups are building technology for restaurants to be able to increase their growth and customer experience
How it works:
- Blackbird has a mobile app that individual uses at participating restaurants
- Restaurants using Blackbird have a digital membership card for patrons that exists within the Blackbird app
- That digital membership card builds up data on their preferences in food, drinks and even seating
- When users participate through the Blackbird app they earn their crypto native token known as FLY
- FLY token is then redeemable for rewards such as food, drinks and even concierge services
Going deeper:
- Blackbird is built onto Coinbase’s layer 2 chain Base
- There are no gas fees for users to earn rewards
By the numbers:
- Currently Blackbird is being used by 22 different restaurants in the United States
The intrigue:
- The venture arm of American Express is an early investor in Blackbird
