SINGAPORE, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chope Group -- the largest online booking service in Asia which has sat over 20 million diners -- today announced its acquisition of MakanLuar, Chope's Indonesian equivalent and the market-leading reservation platform in the country. The deal adds Jakarta, Bali, and Bandung to Chope's reach, now spanning eight cities and 1,300 clients, and comes just eight months after Chope announced an S$11 million fund raise led by NSI Ventures, the venture capital wing of prominent Indonesia-focused private equity group Northstar.
Launched in November 2013 by Jakarta natives and former Bloomberg colleagues, Kunal Narang and Hiro Mohinani, MakanLuar (Indonesian for 'eating out') was among the first-movers in Jakarta before rapidly expanding into Bali and Bandung, and sat nearly 100,000 diners in 2015.
MakanLuar equips each dining establishment with a backend platform for accurate real-time inventory as users make free, instantly confirmed online reservations at the most sought after restaurants in Indonesia. In congestion-prone Jakarta where patrons want a guaranteed table before making the journey, the service proved a hit; a success that is echoed in Bali as the number of users continues increasing by the thousands, drawn by the loyalty points and ability to share their experiences on Makanluar.com.
"We've had an incredible journey, so far, as a localised service with a loyal following and we look forward to offering restaurants in Indonesia our new reach to Chope's extensive user base in Asia," said Narang. "At the same time, millions of Indonesian diners will be able to get seats at their favourite restaurants in Singapore and abroad, through a familiar service they also have at home," adds Mohinani.
Under the Chope umbrella, the duo is confident in bringing hassle-free online bookings to a larger portion of Indonesia's 250 million people, an assurance that is shared by NSI Ventures. Says Managing Partner Shane Chesson, "NSI is seeing strong growth from its Indonesian portfolio as millions of consumers embrace locally-suited applications; building upon Makanluar's local expertise and layering in Chope's own product features gives it the opportunity to be the leader in the fast-developing Indonesian dining discovery and reservation space."
The acquisition will keep Narang and Mohinani in the driver's seat and arm them with significant resources from Chope to accelerate MakanLuar's growth. "MakanLuar already had impressive traction," said Chope's CEO, Arrif Ziaudeen, "and we saw obvious opportunities to further increase their aggression with our technology, marketing, and support." For example, Chope's Android and iOS apps would fit perfectly into MakanLuar's mobile strategy. At the same time, MakanLuar's restaurant clients would benefit from fuller features like queues and phone management via a robust iPad-based Dashboard, courtesy of another acquisition Appic Technologies.
Whilst MakanLuar's name will be kept for the moment, the eventual aim of both parties is to create a seamless experience across all eight cities.
Please visit http://www.chope.co/ for more details about The Chope Group
Please visit http://www.makanluar.com/ for more details about MakanLuar
For press inquiries, please contact press@chope.co
Phone number: +65-6225-6612 (Han Ning Yap)
