Restaurant booking app Ruffl have secured £1 million in seed round funding from two unlikely sources.
Formerly known as Hungry Tony, the mobile platform allows users to instantly book tables at nearby restaurants using geo-location.
The service allows restaurateurs to distribute exclusive offers to customers only available on the app and help combat against ‘no shows’.
The funding comes from Karen Hanton, the founder and CEO of Toptable, as well as former CEO of OpenTable Europe, David Pritchard.
Ruffl admit these investors would normally be considered their competitors, but are excited at having them both on board.
Giving power to restaurants
Individual restaurants have their own app so they can update the number of tables available and offers in real time.
Any offers given out over the app have no ‘digital footprint’ meaning its only available to Ruffl users and restaurants aren’t pressured into running permanent special offers.
The software is on payments by results, so restaurants pay a small commission for each diner after the meal.
Beating the competition
Cofounder Aaron Ross admits that they’re not the first people to do this, but is confident they can tackle the market.
“We’re on a great trajectory already. We have a large seed round and great supplier traction with over 450 restaurants in London.”
“In time, we hope to expand this hyper-local brokering platform into other verticals outside of restaurants.”
Ruffl was one of our Series 1 Elevator Pitch startups when it was known as Hungry Tony. They explained their app from the top of the Heron Tower.