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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Business
- Yahoo
How a Y Combinator food delivery app used TikTok to soar in the App Store
The internet trend is simple: A friend or family member looks into the camera and tells viewers, in a slightly aggressive tone, that they are about to witness a presentation and that they had better be nice. That's what Kendall, the sister of Lucious McDaniel IV, did, and after she stepped aside, her brother pitched his company, BiteSight, a food delivery app that lets users watch videos of food before ordering. It also lets customers see what their friends have ordered and bookmark places to try out. The app plays on how young people engage with content — through short-form videos and recommendations from friends. McDaniel posted the video and went back to work. Fifteen minutes later, his sister texted him that their post was going viral. 'We were at 20,000 views in 15 minutes,' McDaniel told TechCrunch. Excitement came, but then chaos ensued as 'parts of our app started to break as we got more users.' The engineering team worked around the clock to keep BiteSight functional, while McDaniel took to making TikToks about the chaos, which ended up going viral, too. He said people loved the 'authenticity' behind seeing what happens when 'your app explodes overnight.' The video of McDaniel presenting this idea has since amassed almost four million likes on TikTok and a quarter of a million on Instagram, joining a trend of young entrepreneurs using TikTok and Instagram Reels to gain traction and deal flow. McDaniel told TechCrunch that the idea to make this video came after watching a friend partake in the same internet trend for his dating app. 'It got over a million views, and he suggested I try it for BiteSight.' McDaniel, who is 24, said he, like many young people, realized he was eating too much takeout, ordering from the same three places because he couldn't discover new restaurants on delivery apps. 'I'd hit this wall of identical-looking restaurants with stock photos, and somehow every place had 4.6 stars.' He started keeping a spreadsheet of restaurants he'd found on Instagram and TikTok, tracking actual reviews, and seeing what his friends thought about said places. 'When I realized other people were doing the exact same thing, my co-founder Zac and I decided to build something better: an app that actually reflects how we discover food today,' he said, referring to Zac Schulwolf, the company's CTO. McDaniel is no stranger to the tech industry. He previously worked at General Atlantic, where one of his main focus areas was restaurant technology. He previously founded a payments company called Phly, led product for a recruitment software, and has even angel invested in a few companies, including the fintech Mercury. McDaniel and Schulwolf, 25, spent over a year building BiteSight, including participation in the Winter 2024 cohort of YCombinator. They then did a limited beta around New York University in April. In mid-May, the company launched an early version and did a bit of social media marketing. In June, they made their viral video. 'What made our video stand out was that what we are building resonates,' said McDaniel, who is BiteSight's CEO (also known as chief eating officer). He added that 'it's clear that consumers, and especially Gen-Z, are ready for something that feels fresh and built for the way they engage.' After the video, BiteSight briefly became #2 in the App Store's Food and Beverage category, bypassing Uber Eats, Starbucks, and even McDonald's. McDaniel said the app also gained more than 100,000 new users and, though the app is only available in New York at the moment, people in other cities started messaging for a nationwide release. On the restaurant side, McDaniel said everyone from small family-owned spots to chain restaurants has reached out to partner and, of course, 'we've had a surge of investor interest from folks who see that this is where food delivery is going.' He declined to comment on the size of any upcoming funding deals, except to say he expects to have news to share soon. Of course, BiteSight has a lot of big, well-funded competition like DoorDash and UberEats. McDaniel believes, however, that being a startup in the age of AI will be his advantage. For example, while most of its competitors needed hundreds of engineers in their early days, BiteSight can work with AI tools that perform 10x the work of a human for much less of the cost. 'By using AI to avoid massive overhead and infrastructure costs, we can do much more with much less and pass on the savings to the small business owners and customers who need it most while still maintaining healthy margins,' he said. What also differentiates BiteSight is its focus on food and video, rather than other categories at the moment. 'We're trying to be the go-to app for the generation that discovers everything through social recommendations and short-form video.' Sign in to access your portfolio
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
General Atlantic's Kotzin Sees IPOs Taking Off in 2026
Hi, it's Swetha Gopinath in London, getting a global IPO outlook from a senior executive at private equity investor General Atlantic. Also today, the billionaire owner of the LA Times plans to take the newspaper public. Today's top stories
Bloomberg
6 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Blackstone Drops Out of Group Seeking Stake in US-Based TikTok
Private equity firm Blackstone Inc. has pulled out of a group of investors seeking to take a minority stake in TikTok's US-based business, according to a person familiar with the matter. Blackstone has ceded its potential stake in TikTok's US operations to the other investors in a consortium that includes Oracle Corp., venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and growth equity investment firm General Atlantic, said the person, who asked not to be named while discussing private conversations.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive-Blackstone drops out of consortium bid for TikTok US, source says
By Dawn Chmielewski and Krystal Hu (Reuters) -Private equity giant Blackstone has withdrawn from a consortium seeking to invest in TikTok's U.S. operations, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. The latest change came as uncertainty has mounted and there have been several delays in the TikTok deal now at the center of U.S.-China trade talks. Blackstone had planned to take a minority stake in the TikTok U.S. business in a deal orchestrated by President Donald Trump. The consortium is led by Susquehanna International Group and General Atlantic, current investors in TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance. The group had emerged as the front-runner to secure TikTok's U.S. business in a deal under which U.S. investors would own 80% of TikTok, while ByteDance would retain a minority stake. Blackstone declined to comment. TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The deadline for ByteDance to divest the popular social media app in the U.S. has been repeatedly postponed, creating uncertainty for investors. Last month, Trump signed a third executive order extending the deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban, moving the cutoff to September 17. In April 2024, Congress passed a law mandating a sale or shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025. Extensions to the deadline have drawn criticism from some lawmakers, who argue the Trump administration is 'flouting the law' and ignoring national security concerns related to Chinese control over TikTok. ByteDance is exploring various options to address these concerns, including selling or restructuring its U.S. operations. The Chinese social media giant, which raked in $43 billion in the first three months of this year, recently surpassed Meta in quarterly revenue, sources told Reuters. The U.S. consortium, favored by the administration in any TikTok deal, also includes KKR, as well as new investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Reuters previously reported. Oracle is also likely to take a stake. It is unclear whether other bidders in the consortium are still involved. A deal had been in the works this spring to spin off TikTok's U.S. operations into a new U.S.-based firm. Talks were put on hold after China indicated it would not approve the transaction, following Trump's announcement of steep tariffs on Chinese goods. If a sale is finalized, the new U.S. app is expected to be owned by a joint venture formed by an American investor consortium and ByteDance, which would maintain a minority stake. TikTok is already working on a U.S.-specific app, sources told Reuters. Blackstone's exit highlights the complexities and uncertainties involved in the deal, as the ongoing talks over TikTok's fate have now become part of Trump's broader trade negotiations with China, and Trump said he would speak to President Xi Jinping about it. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Finextra
10-07-2025
- Business
- Finextra
Mexican digital bank Klar raises $190m
Carey Olsen's corporate team in the Cayman Islands has advised Mexico-based digital bank Klar on its US$190 million Series C funding round, which values the company at over US$800 million. 0 The funding round, led by U.S. private equity firm General Atlantic, comprised US$170 million in equity and US$20 million in venture debt and has achieved backing from both new and existing investors, including Santander and Mexican media company Televisa. Founded in in 2019 to provide a user-friendly digital platform for banking services, Klar now has over two million active users. Its latest funding round comes at a time when the region's digital financial market is increasingly competitive, with the number of fintech companies in Mexico growing year on year as more people turn to online platforms for their banking needs. The Carey Olsen team advising on the transaction comprised partner Trevor McCabe and senior associate Evan Stitt, working alongside onshore U.S. counsel Gunderson Dettmer. Trevor McCabe commented: "Having already established itself as a key player in Mexico's fintech sector, Klar has achieved a new milestone with its Series C funding round and subsequent increase in value to over US$800 million. Investors have recognised Klar's potential for significant growth amid this competitive landscape, and we look forward to seeing how the company drives forward developments in the digital banking space as a result of this successful funding round."
