Restaurant discovery app Offpeak books strategic investment from Yahoo Japan

Photo credit: pjirawat / 123RF.

Restaurant discovery and booking startup Offpeak has raised a strategic round of funding, according to an announcement this morning. The investment amount is undisclosed.

The round was led by YJ Capital, Yahoo Japan’s venture arm. Gobi Partners, the Shanghai-headquartered venture capital firm that led Offpeak’s series A round in June 2015, also joined in.

Offpeak plans to double down on its current markets in Southeast Asia.

Offpeak, a Malaysia-based enterprise that has expanded in Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam, helps diners find and book restaurants outside of those businesses’ usual rush hours. It also serves as a restaurant discovery tool.

The startup claims to have partnered with over 2,600 eateries across its various markets. That’s a significant increase from more than 1,300 partners in December 2015, when it first launched in Singapore.

“We’ve experienced strong growth in every market that we’ve entered and it has given us the confidence that Offpeak plays a significant role in the food and beverage sector,” director Tan Ee Ern tells Tech in Asia.

The company has also begun charging restaurants in Malaysia a subscription fee for its services, and claims the response from its partners has been positive.

The team thinks YJ Capital understands what Offpeak is trying to do, as well as the challenges involved. “They have considerable knowledge about other food and beverage players that have become very mature in the Japanese market,” Ee Ern says.

The investment doesn’t mean, however, that Offpeak is currently looking toward Japan.

Offpeak’s directors. Image credit: Offpeak.

Led by entrepreneurs Tan Ban Eu, Lau Ngee Keong, Christian Nguyen, and Tan Ee Ern, Offpeak plans to double down on its current markets in Southeast Asia. The team wants to continue evolving its product based on the experience it has accumulated in the past two years.

Planned enhancements include better search, an updated user interface, intelligent restaurant recommendation features, seamless country selection, and more, according to Ee Ern.