Luxury Dining App Velocity Secures $22.5M Series B

Velocity, a mobile app for discovering and booking high-end restaurants, announced today that it has secured $22.5 million in Series B funding. The round was led by DIG Investments, with participation from several hospitality industry leaders, including Barry Sternlicht, founder of Starwood Hotels Group. The financing will fuel the two-year-old startup’s expansion plan from about a dozen locales to 29 cities around the globe by 2020.

Velocity was founded in 2014 by Zia Yusuf and Alex Macdonald to provide users with a curated selection of fine dining restaurants, particularly those with long wait lists, where they can make reservations up to the last minute. Diners can pay their bills using the app, which allows them to pay in full or to split payments with friends. The app’s instant access to some of the most sought-after restaurants is made possible by Velocity’s direct partnerships with more than 1,100 restaurants, including New York’s Blue Hill, San Francisco’s Slanted Door, Miami’s Alter and Los Angeles’ Mercado.

“Velocity is a game changer for the $3.5 trillion restaurant industry, combining compelling technology, an intimate understanding of hospitality and a world-class management team,” commented Sanjan Dhody, a Velocity board member appointed by DIG Investments.

According to the company, Velocity has doubled its revenue and increased its restaurant roster by a factor of eight in the last 12 months. Part of the company’s rapid growth is due to its strategic acquisitions of Cover, Tab Payments, and Uncover, three competitive apps in the restaurant-booking and payment sector.

“Unlike years past when luxury goods dominated the market, affluent consumers are now spending approximately the same amount on upscale hospitality experiences,” said Alex Macdonald, co-founder and co-CEO of Velocity, in the press release announcing the funding.

Velocity’s restaurant partners seem to have also benefited from the growing popularity of this kind of luxury dining experience. “From partnering with Velocity, we have easily utilized last-minute table openings and we have attracted an audience of trendsetting, global jetsetters that tend to spend more than our average cover,” commented John McDonald, owner of Mercer Street Hospitality, in the funding announcement.

Velocity also announced today the strategic hiring of Amanda Terry as its chief operating officer. Terry previously oversaw direct response ad products for Twitter and was manager of strategy and business development at Zagat, the well-known restaurant and nightlife reviews publication.