United States-based restaurant reservation app OpenTable is setting the table for growth in Canada with its acquisition of a Québec startup.
Montréal-based Libro, which similarly manages restaurant and hospitality bookings, announced yesterday that San Francisco-based OpenTable had acquired it for an undisclosed sum. Libro’s employees and executives will join OpenTable as part of the deal, the companies said in a joint news release.
Libro will continue on as its own brand while the two platforms’ inventory, infrastructure, and security capabilities will be integrated.
Libro president and CEO Lorne Schwartz called the acquisition an “exciting next chapter for Libro and the restaurants we serve,” adding that it will allow the platform to expand its reach and bring more value to its customers.
Libro will continue on as its own brand, the companies said, and they plan to integrate the two platforms’ “inventory, infrastructure, and security capabilities.” BetaKit has reached out to OpenTable and Libro for more details on the deal.
Founded in 2014, Libro was spun out of online restaurant guides RestoMontreal and RestoQuebec. Beyond automating table bookings, Libro’s software handles waitlists, customer reviews, and communications with patrons. In August, the company announced that it had hit 30 percent revenue growth for the year so far, adding 400 new restaurant locations.
In 2024, it was ranked 75th on The Globe and Mail’s list of Canada’s Top Growing Companies. Its portfolio of more than 3,000 options ranges from family-friendly Québec breakfast chain Cora to high-end, Michelin-starred restaurants like Québec City’s Alentours.
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The two companies are positioning the deal as a way to better serve the Canadian hospitality sector. “By bringing the talented Libro team into the fold, we’re excited to strengthen our presence in Quebec and beyond,” OpenTable CEO Debby Soo wrote in a LinkedIn post.
OpenTable was founded in 1998 as easyeats.com with simple software to manage bookings, and went public in 2009. Online travel company Priceline paid $2.6 billion USD in cash to take OpenTable private in 2014—both companies are now part of Booking Holdings.
After a turbulent few years, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down eateries, Soo told Bloomberg that OpenTable has since shifted its strategy to better serve restaurants. The company says it now has 65,000 restaurants on its platform across 80 countries. It also added an AI-powered concierge assistant that allows users to ask for restaurant recommendations in plain language.