Curate Technologies, a hospitality platform that powers instant, white-labeled mobile ordering and loyalty experiences, has raised $10 million in a new round of funding led by Kirk Brown, co-founder of ZoomInfo. The round also included institutional support from K5 Global, a venture capital firm co-founded by Michael Kives and Bryan Baum, and participation from individual investors, including NFL wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and Carl Cheng, founder of Pieology.
Curate is built around what it describes as a core challenge for restaurants: operators want more direct, commission-free delivery and more loyalty-driven repeat business, but guests rarely adopt branded restaurant apps. Curate said its analysis shows that fewer than 5% of all restaurant delivery orders are commission-free, with most orders processed through third-party marketplaces that can charge up to 30% in commissions and fees. Even when restaurants offer a direct alternative, Curate said customers often default to marketplace apps, which can increase costs while limiting restaurants’ ability to own customer relationships and data.
Curate’s approach centers on Apple App Clips, enabling guests to open a branded ordering and rewards experience instantly from a link, QR code, or tap, without downloading an app. The company said this helps restaurants meet customers where they already are, reducing friction at the point of purchase while also making it easier to quickly enroll guests in loyalty programs. As usage grows, Curate said its AI leverages purchase behavior to help drive retention, including determining who to target, what to offer, and when to send it.
The platform is designed to deliver app-like conversion and retention benefits while keeping access as simple as a website. Curate said it supports commission-free direct ordering for delivery through restaurant-owned channels, offers first-party customer data and loyalty program tools such as points, tiers, targeted offers, and surprise-and-delight promotions, and includes an AI-driven marketing engine that automates and optimizes campaigns across SMS, email, and push notifications. Curate also said it is built for multi-location brands with centralized controls and unified analytics.
Over the past year, Curate said it has expanded its footprint with a growing roster of restaurant brands across fast casual, QSR, and multi-unit concepts. The company framed its momentum as being driven by restaurants facing rising third-party fees, fragmented technology stacks, and increasing pressure to own customer relationships and shift demand to first-party channels.
Curate is led by CEO and co-founder Grant Russell, who studied computer science at Stanford University with an AI focus and previously worked as an engineer at Google X. The company’s CTO and co-founder is Alex Wang, a former Meta AI engineer with a background in AI research at Stanford. Chief Business Officer Howard Gordon previously held executive roles at The Cheesecake Factory, where Curate said he helped scale the brand from five locations into a national restaurant company with hundreds of locations.
Curate said the new funding will support expansion across more multi-location brands and continued investment in loyalty, commission-free direct ordering, and its AI-powered marketing engine.
KEY QUOTES
“Restaurants do not have an ordering problem; they have an adoption problem,” said Grant Russell, CEO and Co-Founder of Curate. “App Clips remove the restaurant industry’s biggest point of friction: the ‘app download’. They help restaurants convert significantly more guests into loyalty members. Our AI marketing then works to turn these loyalty members into regulars, driving repeat business. This round of funding will help us scale Curate across more multi-location brands and keep investing in loyalty, commission-free direct ordering, and our AI-powered marketing engine.”
Grant Russell, CEO and Co-Founder, Curate
“If Curate’s technology existed when I was at The Cheesecake Factory, it would have fundamentally changed how we engaged guests and operated at scale,” said Howard Gordon, Chief Business Officer of Curate and former Cheesecake Factory executive. “Today’s operators are exhausted by expensive, disconnected tools that don’t deliver results. Curate replaces that complexity with a single, easy-to-use platform that drives engagement, loyalty, and profitability.”
Howard Gordon, Chief Business Officer, Curate
“In our first three months with Curate, we hit the #74 most popular app on the App Store (Food & Drink) with just four locations, and it showed up in the numbers. Revenue grew 30% year over year, and our loyalty members now average over 7.4 visits per year,” said Anne Nguyen, Co-founder of Da Vien Coffee.
Anne Nguyen, Co-founder, Da Vien Coffee
“Curate’s loyalty was a huge win for us. After switching from Toast Online Ordering to Curate, our direct online sales increased 44.3% across takeout and delivery,” said Jimmy Lee, Co-founder of Mama Hieu’s. “It’s the first time our direct ordering channel has felt like a real habit for customers.”
Jimmy Lee, Co-founder, Mama Hieu’s
