Dining app announces new investment to develop AI technology

Shanghai-based dining application Seat Now announced a new round of finance of 400 million yuan (US$63.5 million) with leading investors Ctrip and Alibaba’s Koubei.

Following the investment, the application is now valued at 4 billion yuan, climbing 1 billion from the previous round of investment less than a year ago.

Seat Now has investors covering the majority of China's top dot-coms, including Baidu, Alibaba, Ctrip and Meituan Dianping. 

Founded in 2013, Seat Now offers dining services to consumers and management systems for 100,000 restaurants nationwide.

In the next stage, the application will develop a smart restaurant system with AI or artificial intelligence technology, which covers supply chain, marketing and ordering systems. 

“It’s like self-driving that owners can let AI predict and decide,” said Xie Xinfa, founder and chief executive of Seat Now.  

The firm running the app has also developed features that allow consumers to book tables in restaurants similar to booking seats in cinemas.