Eatigo: Connecting Empty Dining Tables with Empty Stomachs

Eatigo is a restaurant reservation application (app) founded in 2013 which offered an alternative way of connecting diners to restaurants. The aim was to improve restaurants' profitability by filling up empty restaurant seats during off-peak hours, by offering time-based discounts ranging from 10 to 50 percent. The market for restaurant reservation apps showed potential but there were already entrenched players. With dogged determination to develop a unique value proposition and careful crafting of its business model, the founders managed to shape diners' behaviour and disrupt the modus operandi of the industry to become a leading restaurant reservation app with presence in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, India and the Philippines. As business gained traction, the founders needed funding to sustain growth. They explored funding options available to small-medium enterprises in Singapore and Bangkok - loan from credit card and banks, government grants, and investment from venture capital companies. There were pros and cons. The size and cost of funding were important considerations. Whilst meeting investors' demands was necessary to secure funding, it may lead to excessive dilution of owner's control. There was also the question on the correct valuation of Eatigo. Which type of funding should the founders choose?

• Start-ups
• Business models
• Entrepreneurial financing
• Information systems
• Value propositions
• Financing
• Competitive strategy