‘Super app’ seems to be a buzzword for many tech startups today.
Tencent’s WeChat, Grab and Gojek are some of the shining examples that have jumped on this bandwagon.
Mobile payments and rewards platform Fave wants a slice of the ‘super app’ pie too as it announced today the acquisition of two startups: cutQ and FoodTime.
Fave did not disclose how much it acquired these two startups for, but is confident that they will help to “significantly accelerate its growth in Southeast Asia.”
For those unacquainted with Fave, it started off as a fitness app called KFit, but pivoted to group-buying and coupons after it acquired Groupon Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Skip Qs, Pre-Order Takeaway Food
Singapore-based cutQ and allows users to pre-order food in advance so they won’t have to waste any time queueing for food, and has presence in both Singapore and Malaysia.
It has ceased operations in Singapore as of March 2019 and is now in the midst of onboarding all their merchants on Fave’s table ordering.
On the other hand, FoodTime is a Malaysian food delivery app that will continue to provide its services in Cyberjaya.
According to Fave, these two platforms have “winning business models” and help to “[solve] real problems and challenges” with their F&B business efficiency solutions.
With the acquisition of these two firms, Fave aims to be a “one-stop solutions platform” for both merchants and consumers.
Moving forward, CutQ co-founders Kevin Tan and Laura Cheong-Tan have joined the Fave team to run table ordering business and marketing team in Singapore.
Meanwhile, FoodTime founder Ahmad Daleen will lead the technology team building table ordering solutions in Fave’s regional headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Giving Merchants Better Control Of Their Business
On the merchants’ end, Fave believes that the integration of table ordering (powered by Favepay) and take away pre-ordering services will help alleviate labour and productivity challenges.
“One of the biggest problems facing Singapore’s and Malaysia’s F&B and retail industry is an acute labour shortage. The lack of skilled labour, coupled with new government restrictions on foreign workers, poses one of the biggest growth challenges for both countries,” said Ng Aik Phong, Managing Director of Fave Singapore.
“With Fave, merchants have experienced an impressive 70% increase in loyalty return rates from their customers as compared to the industry average of around 20%. Adding table ordering solutions is a step towards addressing what merchants in F&B need.”
Ng adds that Fave also launched FaveBiz Insights earlier in May, which “provides merchants with data stories made-easy to grow the business”.
The data insights include customer demographics, business growth trends, and identifies opportunities to increase sales.
These solutions will help to improve business operations and enhance customer experience, ultimately increasing sales for the F&B merchants.
Fave Raised US$20M Last Year, What’s Next?
In September last year, Fave secured a US$20 million funding in a Series B round led by investors Sequoia Capital, Venturra Capital, SIG Asia Investment and a strategic East Asian investor.
In an interview with TechCrunch regarding this funding, Fave CEO Joel Neoh expressed that it wanted to value-add its existing services by striking partnerships with firms such as Grab, Gojek and Foodpanda.
Neoh was confident that such partnerships will serve as a collaborative model, and that Fave can aggregate those channels and offer it via its own service.
True to his words, Fave partnered with Grab in October 2018 to strengthen their regional foothold.
As part of the partnership, Fave onboard merchants for GrabFood and GrabPay in Singapore and Malaysia, and adds GrabPay mobile wallet to its platform.
This enables Fave customers to spend their GrabPay credits at restaurants and retailers on the Fave network, and also on Fave deals.
Ng also shared that as part of the US$20 million funding, Fave will continue to invest in technology to build solutions that can help merchants grow their business.
“We are committed to further build easy technology for merchants to shorten the distance between customers and businesses and enable all businesses to participate in the digital economy. No business should be left out of this economy because the cost is too great or the technology too complex,” he adds.
Featured Image Credit: Fave