American Express has today announced its intentions to acquire Resy, the CRM and reservation platform based out of New York. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Resy launched back in 2014 as a platform that allowed users to buy reservations from restaurants in situations where they’d usually have to book months in advance. For restaurants, it allowed them to offload unused inventory.
Over time, Resy realized the opportunity to provide software to restaurants. About a year ago, the company unveiled a new suite of tools for restaurant partners, including Resy Fly, Business Intelligence and Resy Surveys.
Resy Fly uses data to help restaurants understand how to manage their inventory, looking at signals like date, time, weather and the average time spent eating at a restaurant. Using this data, restaurants can be more agile in the way they offer their reservations and tables on an ongoing basis.
Business Intelligence lets restaurants take a look at information like KPIs, revenue and ratings from third-party sources like Foursquare. Resy Surveys, in a similar vein, gives restaurants an easy tool to send out surveys to existing customers to learn more about what they want.
In November, Resy acquired its smaller competitor Reserve for an undisclosed amount. As a result of the acquisition, Resy now serves approximately 4,000 restaurants across the U.S., and through partnerships with other reservation platforms, the company serves 10,000 restaurants worldwide.
The Amex deal will allow American Express to offer to its cardmembers further benefits and experiences that aren’t your standard points and rewards.
“Five years ago we set out to change the way the restaurant industry thinks about technology,” said Ben Leventhal, co-founder and CEO at Resy. “We have focused on delivering world-class hospitality software, thrilling diners with access and amazing experiences at great restaurants, and imagining and building the future of restaurant technology. These are the things we think about everyday and we believe joining Amex will provide us an opportunity to peruse these fundamentals with greater scale and deeper resources. It is a step-change moment for the hospitality industry as we bring the collective resources of American Express and Resy together.”
Resy has raised a total of $45 million from investors such as Vayner RSE, Lerer Hippeau Ventures and Airbnb. Resy says that its full staff of full-time and part-time employees, including co-founder and CTO Michael Montero and co-founder and CEO Ben Leventhal, will move over to Amex. The company also says that the Resy brand name will live on.
American Express has been on a slight shopping spree of late. In March, the company announced it would be acquiring LoungeBuddy to make the travel experience less hellish for cardmembers. Amex also acquired a Japanese restaurant platform called Pocket Concierge in January. Last year, Amex also quietly acquired a U.K.-based, restaurant fintech startup called Cake for a reported $13.3 million.
“Resy is a company that we at American Express have always admired and have always wanted to partner with,” said Chris Cracchiolo, SVP of Global Loyalty and Benefits at American Express. “In just five years Resy has become an essential part of consumers’ and restaurants’ dining experiences, connecting diners with the most sought-after restaurants across the world, and helping your restaurant’s partners grow. They share our passion for dining and also our commitment to helping restaurants thrive.”
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story reported that Resy had raised a total of $15 million. It has been edited for accuracy.
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