FunNow, a Taiwan-based app facilitating on-demand activity bookings across five Asian nations, is expanding its footprint in Southeast Asia by merging with the restaurant reservation app, Eatigo. The specifics of the agreement were not disclosed, but FunNow’s CEO, TK Chen, asserts that it represents the most substantial post-COVID online-to-offline (O2O) merger and acquisition deal in Southeast Asia.
Under this merger, Eatigo now becomes a prominent shareholder within the FunNow Group. Eatigo’s CEO, Michael Cluzel, will join FunNow’s board, while Chen will maintain his roles as president and CEO of the group.
Founded in 2015, FunNow boasts 2.5 million users and employs a dynamic pricing approach, allowing businesses on its platform to offer varying prices to customers based on supply and demand. Starting in Taiwan, FunNow has extended its reach to Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Thailand, expanding through a series of acquisitions, including Malaysia’s restaurant booking platform and SaaS provider, TABLEAPP, and the Taiwanese family activity booking platform, Niceday. Since its inception, FunNow has secured $22.5 million in funding from investors such as the corporate venture arms of PChome, KKday, and Wistron.
Eatigo, established in Bangkok in 2013, employs yield management techniques to assist 4,000 restaurants in booking customers during off-peak hours, offering discounts of up to 50%. It operates in Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines, with a user base of five million. TripAdvisor is among its investors.
Chen tells TechCrunch that the merger decision was driven by the potential for increased economic scale while maintaining operational efficiency. He emphasizes the significance of the food and beverage (F&B) sector within the lifestyle industry and highlights FunNow’s broader scope as a multi-category lifestyle platform. The goal is to channel more resources into the F&B sector, given its prominence as the largest category in the lifestyle domain.
Chen further notes that this merger is expected to double FunNow’s revenue. While the FunNow and Eatigo apps will continue to operate separately, their business operations will be merged for enhanced efficiency.
