Bestie Bite raises €1.5M to expand AI restaurant discovery in US
Bestie Bite, a Rome-based AI restaurant discovery platform, has raised €1.5 million to expand in the US, reaching €2.2 million total. Read the details.
Prajakta Sanjay Warwadkar 
ROME, June 15, 2026 — Bestie Bite, a Rome-based hospitality technology startup, has raised €1.5 million to accelerate its expansion into the United States. The company, which runs an AI restaurant discovery platform built on user video reviews, completed the round through a SAFE instrument.
The raise lifts Bestie Bite's total funding to €2.2 million and comes less than four months after a €700,000 first round led by Techstars. It signals a push to scale a model that pairs short-form video discovery for diners with AI marketing tools for restaurants.
Inside the Bestie Bite AI restaurant discovery platform
Founded in 2024 by Carlotta Robbe Di Lorenzo and Caterina Vertefeuille, the platform lets consumers find restaurants, bars and hotels through short videos posted by real users. For businesses, it offers an AI-driven video marketing service aimed at venues that lack in-house marketing budgets.
The company says it uses authentication systems, fraud detection and AI video-detection tools to verify content. A gamified rewards system pays cashback for authentic uploads, while partner campaigns called Missions offer higher rewards.
"Authenticity is the most valuable and scarce asset on the web," co-founders Carlotta Robbe Di Lorenzo and Caterina Vertefeuille said, describing plans to scale from Italy to the United States.
An 'AI Marketing Employee' for restaurants
Bestie Bite has also launched what it calls an "AI Marketing Employee" for hospitality venues. From a single community video, the system generates a month-long content calendar and publishes posts across a venue's channels without owner involvement, while providing sentiment analysis and performance metrics.
The Grassi family, through its holding company G&G, a shareholder of E80 Group S.p.A., led the new round.
Funding fuels the US push
The startup reports more than 100,000 users, over 120,000 uploaded videos and a presence in more than 80 countries, with restaurant brand Pescaria among its early enterprise users. It has set up a base in San Francisco after exploring the market earlier this year.
In San Francisco, Bestie Bite has signed partnerships with Tony's Pizza and North Beach Restaurant and gathered reviews covering more than 500 local restaurants. The company runs its headquarters in Rome and a second innovation hub at OGR Tech in Turin. Further detail is available on the Bestie Bite website.
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