Ben Leventhal, known for creating products that bring restaurants closer to their diners, has raised $50 million in a fresh funding round for his latest venture, Blackbird Labs. The startup operates a blockchain-powered platform combining payments and a loyalty program aimed at the restaurant industry, structured to enhance customer retention and streamline transactions.
This latest investment will be deployed to launch “Blackbird Club,” a cross-restaurant loyalty points system, as well as to expand the company’s market presence beyond its current footprint—which includes New York, San Francisco, and Charleston, South Carolina. CEO Ben Leventhal explained the choice of Charleston by noting the city “punches above its class,” describing it as an ideal test market similar to how New Zealand has traditionally served tech giants such as Meta.
The funding round was led by new investor Spark Capital, alongside significant contributions from previous backers Coinbase Ventures, Amex Ventures, and Andreessen Horowitz. The valuation of Blackbird was not disclosed in this latest round, though in its earlier $24 million Series A round in 2023, the startup was reportedly valued at roughly $124 million. Including this latest investment, Blackbird Labs has raised a total of $85 million to date.
Strategic alignments are evident in the investor lineup; notably, American Express previously acquired Resy, another restaurant reservation platform founded by Leventhal. While an integration between Resy and Blackbird is not currently in place, Leventhal suggested it remains a strong possibility in the future.
Blackbird’s core product, Flynet, is described as a “layer-three transaction protocol,” built atop Coinbase’s blockchain network, BASE. It enables restaurant patrons to seamlessly pay bills directly through Blackbird’s mobile app and simultaneously manage their loyalty rewards.
When questioned about the necessity of blockchain integration—considering numerous traditional alternatives—Leventhal clarified that blockchain wasn’t critical at the outset. However, he expressed confidence that building the platform “on-chain” would provide critical long-term benefits, particularly in managing customer profiles and data privacy, granting consumers continued ownership of their own data. Additionally, he outlined a vision in which diners and restaurant partners alike could eventually share in the ownership of Blackbird itself.
Despite two already successful ventures tied to the restaurant industry—Resy and the food media platform Eater, which is now part of Vox Media—Leventhal said he remains committed to further innovation in the sector.
He underscored significant changes in the economic landscape of the restaurant industry, noting restaurant profitability has tumbled from approximately 20% in the early 2000s to under 5% today. Simultaneously, while platforms like Instagram and TikTok have popularized restaurants and dining experiences globally, this digital buzz has done little to improve financial conditions amid rising costs and tighter margins. The disparity between the industry’s popularity and profitability provides fertile ground for innovation, Leventhal said—exactly what Blackbird aims to address.
Arianna Simpson, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto fund, highlighted blockchain’s unique potential in resolving this disconnect. She pointed out that current major tech platforms often collect large fees from restaurants, eating into what are already slim profit margins. Blackbird, on the other hand, is already lowering costs for restaurants, delivering savings of around 3-4% in payment processing fees. Simpson emphasized Blackbird’s ambition to create a network jointly owned by restaurants and diners, a concept uniquely viable with blockchain technology at its foundation.
