Reserve raises another $10M and plans new software for restaurants

Reserve, a startup offering table and customer management tools for restaurants, is announcing that it has raised $10 million in Series B funding.

When the company first launched in 2014, it billed itself as a “digital concierge” that would make it easier for diners to get reservations at top restaurants. Last year, it launched a new product called Reserve for Restaurants, allowing those restaurants to manage all their tables, maintain a database of customer information and accept reservations on their own websites.

Next up, according to co-founder and CEO Greg Hong, is the launch of a new, “best in class” table management product in the second quarter of 2017.

It might look like Reserve’s focus has shifted from its dining app to restaurant software (and certainly its business model has shifted from charging diners per reservation to charging restaurants a flat monthly fee), but Hong said it’s all part of the same vision. He admitted that first, he “didn’t fully have my arms wrapped around that alignment with those restaurant communities,” which is why the company’s put such a focus on building out tools for those restaurants. But he also said Reserve has always been a “two-sided marketplace” that needs to serve both restaurants and diners.

“Every time we build a better tool on one side … that benefits both sides of the market,” Hong said.

The company is also announcing its nationwide launch, which means that restaurants anywhere in the United States (not just in cities like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles) can use Reserve’s software. Reserve says it has already been used by more than 500 restaurants to seat nearly 9 million diners.

Reserve was incubated at Expa, the “startup studio” created by StumbleUpon and Uber co-founder Garrett Camp, and the relationship continues, with Expa Capital leading the Series B. First Round, Human Ventures (a firm created by Reserve co-founder Joe Marchese) and others also participated in the new funding. Reserve has now raised more than $27 million total.