Take App, a Singapore-based platform offering WhatsApp ordering solutions for restaurant businesses, has received funding from Meta (previously Facebook).
The company was founded in 2021 by former Facebook engineering manager Youmin Kim, who left the company to create a digital platform that bridges the gap for small-business owners in Southeast Asia.
Take App makes WhatsApp ordering and newsletters easy. The platform lets local stores easily build their website to take orders online and run WhatsApp newsletter campaigns.
The app was built with a central focus on restaurants. However, the company said it would work with bakeries, grocery businesses, and beauty salons. The company’s mission is to support small business through free plan. However, the Take App also have premium plan for advanced features.
“Our unique selling point is letting merchants keep direct WhatsApp conversations with customers,” Kim explained to TechCrunch. “Merchants love the idea that they receive notifications and order details directly in WhatsApp — no other app or login is required.”
Further, the Singapore company also aims to help businesses maintain repeated customers through the database, with support for creating and sending the newsletter with offers and relevant company updates.
Currently, around 1000 businesses use the Take App platform from across 35 different markets, most of which are based in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
Recently, Take App graduated from Y Combinator (YC) as part of the accelerator’s Winter 22 batch. Alongside Meta and an undisclosed list of angles, Y Combinator participated in a $1M Seed funding round.
“In Southeast Asia, WhatsApp is the most common way to talk to business, but it incurs heavy operation costs as employees have to respond to several conversations,” Kim explained to TechCrunch. “There are ‘western’ CRM solutions that make this more efficient, but they are too expensive or difficult for our merchants. We focus on traditional businesses with a digital gap.”
