With $78,000 in hand, TableApp looks to expand into Penang and Johor Bahru

Malaysia-based online restaurant booking site TableApp has just received MYR250,000 (US$78,000) in seed funding. Singapore-based Crystal Horse Investments, as well as former Google Malaysia employee Hanson Toh, both co-invested in this round. Toh is also TableApp’s coach in Cradle’s Coach & Grow Program.

“The money will be used mainly for increasing our sales force, as well as for marketing,” says Benson Chang, TableApp’s CEO and founder. He adds that the amount will also be channeled towards their expansion plans beyond Klang Valley and into Penang and Johor Bahru. Right now, Chang is looking to hire business development executives to push sales in these states.

The booking site was previously working on a partnership with Groupon Malaysia, which officially began in July. The deal features a reservation widget powered by TableApp, which redirects customers to TableApp’s website, being placed on Groupon’s food deal page.

The team has also confirmed a deal with Tourism Malaysia, who are currently revamping their website. The partnership, which will go live in September, would see TableApp’s booking widget embedded on their homepage.

See: Forget food blogging: this startup aims to show that table reservations are the real money-makers

TableApp’s recently released iOS and Android apps have gotten over 15,000 downloads thus far, and Chang is confident that this number will multiply exponentially in the coming months. “There has been a significant growth in bookings coming from our mobile app,” he explains. “Overall, we hit our first 10,000 diners milestone within the first eight months, and and our second 10,000 diners milestone in the following four months.”