Eatsmart, a web and mobile service for reserving tables at restaurants throughout Ukraine, secured $110,000 last month from a business angel. Neither the identity of the investor, nor the terms of the deal have been disclosed. The funds will be directed towards a marketing campaign, as well as hiring sales managers.
Eatsmart was launched in 2012 by Kyiv (Kiev)-based entrepreneurs Sergey Lysyuk and Roman Mulyavka, who were later joined by Dmitri Bykovets and Oleg Prilutskiy. However, the creators of the project were only able to develop it during their free time.
The team at Eatsmart have invested around $40,000 of their own funds in the project.
The site went live in summer 2014, with more than 10 restaurants partnering with the service and apps for Android and iOS being launched. Thus far, organic traffic to the site has led to approximately 20 bookings per day. In September 2015, the company plans to generate income by charging a subscription fee to restaurants connected to the platform. The team at Eatsmart is currently developing the service, aiming to connect as many venues as possible.
It is difficult for startups to survive in this market, rival GetRest recently ceased operations and startup TopReserve is for sale for $100,000. However, the founders of Eatsmart are relying on solid, tested European analogs of their business model, as well as their own experience and plan for development.
Source: Inventure.com.ua
