Fave starts series C process in its bid to become the leading super app for merchants

It seems every tech business is now striving to be a super app. Gone are the days when they were laser-focused on one product, be it mobile payments, ride-hailing, or food delivery. Instead, companies are seeking to provide their user base with a full suite of services.

Singapore-based Fave is one such company. The startup, which began as gym subscription service KFit, got a new lease on life when it acquired Groupon Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia in 2017. Since then, it hasn’t looked back.

Photo credit: Fave

Known for offering deals and coupons, Fave can be described as an “online rewards platform” or “digital merchant platform.” But founder Joel Neoh likes to think of the company simply as “a platform that serves our merchant’s customers.”

Two years ago, discount coupon offerings were a mainstay of the business. Today, Fave’s platform stacks up a bundle of merchant services that includes payments, loyalty building, and financial services – basically a one-stop-shop for offline businesses looking to expand their digital footprint.

Fave’s network of merchants comprises restaurants, cafes, spas, salons, and gyms, through which it offers consumers hundreds of deals daily – everything from beauty and wellness to food and beverage coupons. On top of that, its mobile payment method FavePay allows users to pay for their purchases using their smartphones and receive cashback at the same time.

Fave’s broader objective, however, is to build up merchant technology infrastructure to help them scale and grow. To that end, Favebiz, its suite of products for businesses, serves as an anchor for all the startup’s services.

The startup has a lot more in store in the next few years. Tech in Asia sat down with Neoh and chief financial officer Jason Tan to find out more about the company’s plans.

A “merchant-first,” “product-first” company

Fave is currently present in over 25,000 merchant locations across Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia – a number that Neoh expects to increase fourfold by 2020.

Merchants can onboard themselves through a free starter kit. Neoh says this is a deliberate effort to keep the platform as affordable and easy to use as possible, acknowledging that costs and complexity are the main deterrents keeping merchants from switching from cash to alternative payment methods.

Once on board, merchants will be able to accept mobile payments from Fave customers via FavePay and gain access to insights through real-time data about transactions, sales performance, and trends. Vendors can build out a loyalty platform via a cashback scheme as well. According to Fave’s website, there are currently 4 million customers on its network. But the company declined to specify whether this number refers to active or registered users.

The offline-to-online player claims that every $1 merchant spends on marketing via Fave earns them an average return-on-investment of $8.

Fave founder Joel Neoh / Photo credit: Fave

A move into financing

Future plans