Despite Covid-19, this wedding-focused startup has kept its vows of profitability

Weddings can get really expensive really quickly. For example, an average Malaysian wedding can cost an average of US$11,900. But this can reach up to a quadruple of that amount depending on how elaborate a couple wants their special day to be. In Singapore, getting married would cost anywhere between S$20,000 (US$14,700) and S$52,800 (US$38,900).

This and the need to coordinate with several vendors – including caterers, event planners, and venue providers – make planning a wedding a daunting task.

Photo credit: Nikahsatu

“Planning weddings is the most taxing part for any bride. Hence, [this is] why they hire wedding planners,” Naimran Yunus, founder of wedding-focused online marketplace Nikahsatu, tells Tech in Asia.

Often, couples also have to filter all their options into three vendors per category, which makes the process even more tedious, he adds.

“We had a vision to centralize the entire process through one single platform from bookings, coordination, to installment payments,” Yunus said.

This is what led him to establish Nikahsatu in 2017. Last month, the startup raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from 500 Startups.

Weddings in the time of Covid

The company has been profitable so far, Yunus claims, even if physical distancing measures are still in place to curb the spread of the virus.

According to the exec, most of the couples that planned to get married this year have not cancelled their weddings but are waiting until lockdown measures are lifted. “With excess time during the lockdown, it is a good time to settle all bookings of wedding categories,” he added.

Between March to May, Yunus claimed that Nikahsatu’s Malaysia operations were still generating revenues somewhere in the six-figure range (in ringgit) per month.

Transactions made on the platform also surged after movement restrictions were loosened in the country in June, he added. “Categories that are usually booked six months ahead are [now] booked in three months from the wedding dates instead.”

With the company raking in money, Yunus said that the amount it raised was not to extend its runway, but to fuel further growth. The founder, however, was open to raising a larger round within the next 24 months.

“The focus right now for the company is building up the transaction value,” the founder said. Nikahsatu currently serves in nine wedding-related categories and expects its average transaction value to stabilize at US$1,750 in the next 20 months.

According to Yunus, Nikahsatu serves customers across Malaysia and Singapore. Its website also sees consistent traffic from Indonesia and Brunei despite it not operating in the two countries.

The perfect match