Discount-based online restaurant reservation player, eatigo, is seeking a valuation of $100 million after entering new markets such as India and the Philippines.

Last month, the Bangkok-headquartered start-up entered India and chose to grow inorganically by acquiring the assets of a Pune-based loss-making online reservation player, Ressy.

“This is the first time that we have made an acquisition in any market and with Ressy, we expect to jump-start our India launch. Today, we have a valuation of $70 million but with the launch of the Philippines and India operations, we expect our valuation to cross $100 million since we are now going to be present in six markets in South East Asia,’’ said Siddhanta Kothari, Chief Financial Officer, eatigo International.

Having raised $15.5 million in two rounds of funding from investors like PlanB, a Thailand-based media house, and travel discovery platform, TripAdvisor, eatigo claims to be a leader in South East Asia in the online restaurant reservation segment with presence across six markets including Hongkong, Malaysia and Singapore. In India, the start-up is open to growing inorganically and would be seeking strategic partnerships and acquisitions to have a pan-India presence.

“Today, we are present in Pune and Mumbai but to have pan-India presence we would look at small hyper local players who can be a strategic fit to our operations. We have already raised two rounds of funding and can afford to explore more opportunities in India,’’ added Kothari.

Currently, the online restaurant reservation segment is dominated by three players such as dineout, easy diner and zomato along with local players in every market.

“We would be covering five-star hotels like Hyatt to quick service restaurants. Indians may not have a habit of making online reservations but we intend to motivate them with discounts ranging from 10 per cent to 50 per cent as there is always affinity towards such discounts,’’ said Kothari.

Currently, eatigo has 300 restaurants listed on its app but intends taking it up to 1,000 in markets such as Mumbai and Pune, where it has started operations last month.

While eatigo has the onus of developing the Mumbai and Pune markets, breaking even in its operations may take a while. “We take 12-18 months to break even in any market and have already done so in Thailand and Singapore,’’ added Kothari.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW