Malaysia’s TableApp raises series A from Sea Unicorn, 500 Startups

Photo credit: Kurman Communications

Restaurant reservation startup TableApp’s been on Tech in Asia’s radar for a while. From its time at the MAD incubator to raising seed funding, to its recent participation at MAP’s massive demo day.

Now the startup announced it has raised series A investment from Sea Unicorn, 500 Startups, and Kathrein Ventures. It’s “seven figures in Malaysian Ringgit,” reveals Table App’s founder Benson Chang. RM 1 million equals roughly US$235,000.

TableApp is currently available in cities in Malaysia and Thailand. Benson is now eyeing expansion into additional cities in Malaysia, as well as Vietnam and the Philippines. TableApp’s current team numbers only seven people. The startup also recently secured a strategic partnership with RHB bank. In this partnership, holders of RHB’s Visa Infinite credit card, Signature credit card, or Platinum credit card can get several discounts and privileges when booking through TableApp.

TableApp founder Benson Chang

Benson was brought up helping out in his family’s restaurants, which means he’s literally at home in the F&B industry. He studied in Taiwan and came home with the idea for a restaurant review site, but after a year found it was hard to monetize. From that point on, the startup pivoted to restaurant reservation. Benson originally had a Taiwanese co-founder, a friend he met at the university. But that friend has since moved back to Taiwan due to family issues, while Benson continues pushing TableApp forward from one milestone to the next.

Benson’s hard work is paying off. The number of reservations facilitated through the app shows healthy growth.

By October 2015, TableApp has seated a total of around 130,000 diners at its partner restaurants. Making a reservation through the app is free for guests, but TableApp charges the restaurants a fee for each seated diner. Restaurateurs can also use TableApp’s backend to perform other customer relationship management tasks, such as of keeping track of repeat customers. These features are paid for on a monthly subscription basis.

In Malaysia, TableApp seems to have outlasted local competitors Kreserve and Zervit – both websites are now defunct. It does face competition from US-based OpenTable, which also operates in Malaysia, and EzTable, which is based in Taiwan but also operates in Hong Kong and Thailand.