Rome-based hospitality startup Bestie Bite has closed a €1.5 million fresh-money funding round through a SAFE instrument led by the Grassi family through their family holding company G&G, a shareholder of E80 Group S.p.A.
- Founded in 2024 by Carlotta Robbe Di Lorenzo and Caterina Vertefeuille, Bestie Bite is an app that allows users to discover and review restaurants, bars, and hotels through short, authentic videos.
- The platform converts user-generated content into AI-processed insights, enabling restaurants and hospitality businesses to analyze customer sentiment and service quality in real time.
- Users interact with the app in three steps: they explore new venues via video, submit their own video reviews of the experience, and earn points that can be converted into cashback.
- The app also features missions where users complete tasks such as visiting a specific venue and recording a video to earn extra points. Bestie Bite leverages AI to process and transform real customer videos into actionable data and ready-to-use content for hospitality businesses, creating a feedback loop between consumers and venues.
- In 2025, the firm secured $700,000 in a funding round led by Techstars to improve and further develop its AI-driven app.
Details of the deal
- The investment will be used to strengthen Bestie Bite’s position in Italy, accelerate its expansion into the United States, grow its team, and further develop its AI-powered platform for hospitality discovery and marketing.
