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AlleyWatch

The Pulse of New York Tech

An Angel in New York

Sesame Raises $3.4M for its Food Delivery Marketplace That Provides Compelling Economics for Restaurants at a Time They Need it the Most

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While food delivery apps have provided restaurants with a lifeline during the pandemic and lockdowns by creating new demand and exposure, the benefits do not come without a cost. The fees charged by these platforms can be as high as 30% cutting into already notoriously low margins for most food establishments. Sesame seeks to change this with its food delivery marketplace that offers a flat fee of $125 per month to restaurants rather than a per order commission and the customer is charged a flat $3 service fee delivery along with $2.99 for delivery. Most of these traditional apps do not provide restaurants with any customer data, preventing restaurants from building true customer relationships; Sesame operates with an open customer data model and allows restaurants to also build rewards programs tailored to their guests. The platform is currently in beta launch, serving a delivery zone between 34th and Houston, with an actively growing waitlist of NYC establishments seeking to join. AlleyWatch caught up with Sesame CEO and Founder Josh Morgan to learn more about how his experience at Hillstone Restaurant Group and the Nomad provided the foundation for the thinking behind the business, the company’s strategic plans in New York and beyond, pre-seed round of funding from investors that include Eldridge Industries, Tuesday Capital, and Relish Works.

Spokn Raises $4M for its Podcasting Platform for Work That Seeks to Make Audio a More Dominant Form of Communication

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Among paid Slack customers, users are spending 90 minutes per day using Slack on average. Companies are also spending countless hours on Zoom at a time where studies are now emerging indicating that fatigue from virtual interactions is taxing the psyche, leading to decreased concentration. However, podcast listeners spend an average of 6 hours and 37 minutes listening to podcasts every week and continue to be highly engaged. Spokn is a secure podcasting platform designed for work that seeks to capture the engagement of podcasts and bring it to the corporate setting, reducing time spent on non-aural platforms. The internal podcasts add a more personal touch to everyday communications and employee development programs, increasing employee engagement. Spokn is easy to use across the entire organization when it wants to get out content quickly for a variety of use cases (updates, mission statement, training, etc) and also has the added benefit of freeing up the hands of employees to allow them to multitask. AlleyWatch caught up with Cofounder and CEO Fawzy Abu Seif to learn more about the powerful impact that podcasting in the workforce can have, the company’s strategic plans, and latest round of funding from NEA, Y Combinator, Reach Capital, Funders Club, Liquid2, Share Capital, SOMA Capital, Scribble VC, and Hack VC.

Cobble Raises $3M to Solve Every Couples Dilemma: What Should We Do?

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Swipe right is no longer reserved just for dating apps. Cobble, the decision-making app for couples, makes use of the simple and elegant swipe right UX feature to help couples discover and decide on what activities, events, shows, or movies to attend/watch. Cobble is a spin-off of the date night blog, idk tonight, and has already recorded +200K swipes on its platform since its launch earlier this year. The app is initially focused on those who are in committed relationships with plans to expand to the broader market of friends and groups. AlleyWatch caught up with CEO and Chief Editor Jordan Scott to learn more about the inspiration for spicing up date night, the company’s geographic expansion plans, and recent round of funding.

NYC Startup Payfully Just Raised $300K To Be to the Go To For Any Airbnb Host

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Managing Airbnb rentals can be a burden. On top of making your house look perfect for guests and all the maintenance that goes with that, you need to make sure that you are being paid promptly. In the current model, there is an inevitable lag between stays and payments. Thankfully, Payfully is giving you the […]

3 X 2 Founder Advice On Winning (And Getting Funded)

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I was honored to talk to the latest cohort at Ari Horie’s Women’s Startup Lab accelerator in Menlo Park recently. As we closed a discussion of early stage investing I offered up three high level pieces of advice on achieving startup success. This was based on my observations of shared winning behaviors of startups I have had the privilege […]