Tock
Deal: $7.5 million
Investors: The round was led by Origin Ventures, with participation from Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, and Will Guidara and Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park.
What they do: Chicago-based Tock is a restaurant reservation startup that offers a ticketing system where people put down a deposit in advance to hold a table at a popular restaurant. By requiring patrons to pay for dinner in advance (with the deposit being applied to the final bill) restaurants are able to greatly cut down on no-shows and reduce labor costs and food waste, Tock says. Tock was founded by well-known Chicago restauranteur and Alinea owner Nick Kokonas and former Googler Brian Fitzpatrick.
More than just booking a table, Tock allows restaurants to sell "experiences," like a $1,000 Proposal Experience at a private cupola at London House in Chicago, or a $165 7-course meal inside Aviary's kitchen in Chicago.
Tock is the latest food tech investment from Origin Ventures, who is known for being an early investor in Chicago's GrubHub.
“We are thrilled to have Origin Ventures as our lead investor,” Kokonas said in a statement. “Having led the first two institutional funding rounds in GrubHub, Origin is the perfect partner for Tock. They helped GrubHub grow from a company with five employees operating only in Chicago to the national brand that owns the online restaurant delivery industry.”
Other details: Tock said the funding will allow the company to expand into new markets and offer its platform to more restaurants. Tock says it has processed over $102 million in pre-paid bookings and seated over 1 million restaurant patrons spanning nine countries. Tock previously raised an undisclosed seed round from investors like ex-Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff, and 1871 CEO Howard Tullman.
“We believe that Tock is another transformational company in the restaurant industry,” Origin Ventures partner Jason Heltzer said in the statement. “Tock proved that ticketing works at Nick’s restaurants. Tock’s innovative booking methods and dynamic pricing capabilities have attracted all types of restaurants as customers.”
