Finding a great restaurant, café, or hotel has become increasingly complicated despite the abundance of information available online. Consumers are often overwhelmed by sponsored content, influencer recommendations, and unreliable reviews that make it difficult to determine which venues genuinely match their preferences. At the same time, thousands of independent hospitality businesses struggle to gain visibility in a crowded digital landscape dominated by large brands and marketing budgets. Italian startup Bestie Bite believes authenticity can solve both problems, and the company has now secured fresh funding to accelerate its growth and international expansion.
Bestie Bite has raised €1.5 million through a SAFE investment round led by the Grassi family through its holding company G&G, a shareholder of E80 Group.
The investment comes less than four months after the company completed its first €700,000 funding round led by Techstars, bringing total capital raised to €2.2 million.
The new funding will support expansion across Italy and help establish the company’s presence in the United States.
Solving a Growing Discovery Problem
The hospitality industry has undergone significant changes in recent years, particularly following shifts in consumer behaviour after the pandemic.
Today, many consumers rely heavily on digital platforms when choosing where to eat, drink, or stay.
However, growing concerns around review authenticity and the increasing influence of paid content have made discovery more challenging.
Users often struggle to distinguish genuine recommendations from sponsored promotions, leading to frustration and reduced trust in traditional review platforms.
At the same time, approximately 90 percent of hospitality businesses are small operators with limited marketing budgets and digital expertise.
As a result, many high quality venues remain difficult for potential customers to discover.
Building a Platform Around Authenticity
Bestie Bite was created to address these challenges by focusing on authentic video based reviews.
The platform allows users to discover venues through real customer generated video content rather than relying solely on written reviews or promotional materials.
Artificial intelligence plays a central role in helping users navigate this content.
The platform analyses preferences and viewing behaviour to recommend venues that match individual tastes and interests.
This personalised approach helps users make decisions more quickly while reducing information overload.
To strengthen trust, Bestie Bite employs verification measures including user authentication, fraud prevention systems, and AI powered video detection tools designed to maintain content quality and authenticity.
Rewarding Community Participation
Unlike many traditional review platforms, Bestie Bite actively encourages user participation through incentives.
Users who contribute videos can earn cashback rewards and participate in special initiatives known as Missions, which are organised in partnership with hospitality businesses.
This model helps generate a continuous flow of authentic content while rewarding users for sharing their experiences.
The company believes that creating incentives for genuine contributions strengthens engagement and improves the overall quality of recommendations available on the platform.
Bringing AI to Hospitality Marketing
Beyond helping consumers discover venues, Bestie Bite is also developing tools for hospitality businesses.
The company describes its solution as the industry’s first AI Marketing Employee.
The system automates tasks that would traditionally require social media managers or marketing agencies.
Using a single piece of community generated content, the platform can automatically create and publish a monthly content strategy for businesses.
In addition, hospitality operators receive access to sentiment analysis and performance insights that help them understand customer feedback and monitor service quality in real time.
This enables smaller businesses to benefit from advanced marketing capabilities without requiring significant internal resources.
Expanding Globally
Bestie Bite has already demonstrated strong early traction.
The platform has surpassed 100,000 users and accumulated more than 120,000 uploaded videos from users across 80 countries.
With fresh funding secured, the company is now focused on scaling internationally.
A major priority is expansion into the United States, where Bestie Bite is establishing a base in San Francisco.
The company sees the US as a strategic market due to its combination of technological innovation and a highly competitive hospitality industry.
Led by co founders Carlotta Robbe Di Lorenzo and Caterina Vertefeuille, alongside CTO Placido Falqueto, Bestie Bite is positioning itself as a new generation hospitality platform built around trust, authenticity, and artificial intelligence. By connecting consumers with genuine recommendations while helping businesses improve visibility and marketing performance, the company aims to create a new standard for hospitality discovery worldwide.
