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Airbnb ventures into restaurant booking app Resy.com

New York-based Resy.com has just received a fresh round of funding worth $13 million from global accommodation portal Airbnb along with the participation of First Data Corporation, RSE Ventures, and Lerer Hippeau Ventures, technology website VentureBeat reports.

Founded in 2014, Resy.com, is a restaurant booking platform which offers a consumer-focused mobile app that allows travellers to book tables at great restaurants at anytime.

At present the company works with more than a thousand eateries in Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Washington D.C., San Francisco, and 50 conurbations across the U.S.

In November, Airbnb introduced local experiences called “Trips” to its app, part of which involved a partnership with Resy that allowed Airbnb users to book local restaurants without having to leave the app.

“Many of our most-treasured travel memories come from experiencing the local food,” Airbnb chief executive Brian Chesky said.

“Helping people find and book incredible local restaurants is a key part of us moving beyond just accommodation to focus on the whole trip. We can’t think of a better partner than Resy to help make this possible.”

Resy was co-founded by entrepreneur and investor Gary Vaynerchuk, Michael Montero, founder of CrowdTwist and Fotolog, and Ben Leventhal, co-founder of Eater, a food blog network now owned by Vox Media.

The new funding comes three years after it raised $2 million from investors in 2014.

With Airbnb investing into Resy’s business, pundits believe it would serve well in terms of gaining mindshare among travellers seeking to experience local cuisine when abroad.

“Resy and Airbnb share a vision for how people experience local venues,” Resy chief executive Ben Leventhal said.

“We’re committed to building a product that allows anyone, anywhere, anytime to live like a local,” he said.

 

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June Ramli

June Ramli was a in-house journalist for Elite Agent Magazine.