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Tag: Fave

  • Fave Wants to Be Merchant Super App

    Fave Wants to Be Merchant Super App

    Singapore-based Fave is onboarding merchants quickly to distinguish itself, as competition in the mobile rewards and mobile wallet space heats up.

    Fave has recently moved into the fringes of financial services, with a pilot project to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) obtain micro-loans from financial institutions. The move appears to follow similar moves by lifestyle apps such as Grab, that offer micro-loans to consumers in other parts of Southeast Asia.

    There are all these consumer super-apps, but then, actually we are like a merchant super-app platform,» said Fave’s chief executive Joel Neoh.

    Fave distributes coupons for the merchants while rewarding customers with cashback. After its launch in 2017, Fave acquired the Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia units of Groupon. Neoh was the founder of Fave Malaysia (originally GroupsMore) and previously led Groupon’s Asia-Pacific business.

    So far, the platform has more 25,000 merchants on its platform in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, where the company had acquired the units of Groupon. In September 2018, Fave raised $20 million in Series B funds from existing investors Sequoia Capital India, SIG Asia Investments and venture capital firm Venturra Capital, which is backed by Indonesia’s Lippo Group.

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  • Fave buys startups CutQ and FoodTime at once

    Fave buys startups CutQ and FoodTime at once

    Southeast Asian mobile payment and reward platform Fave has acquired CutQ and FoodTime, two startups specializing in F&B table ordering and takeaway pre-ordering for an undisclosed figure.

    The acquisition and integration of both firms present Fave with an opportunity to significantly accelerate its growth in the region.

    “I’m very pleased to welcome both CutQ and FoodTime into the Fave family,” said founder of Fave Group Joel Neoh. “As the cost to operate restaurants increases and business owners face challenges to hire staff and increase productivity, we wanted to provide table ordering and takeaway pre-ordering solutions which will reduce these hurdles.

    “We saw an opportunity to leverage on the knowledge and technology that CutQ in Singapore and FoodTime in Malaysia have developed and are delighted to officially introduce their services as our next value-added service for our merchants and users. At Fave, we believe every business should be able to partake in the digital economy, and no one should be left behind because the cost is too high or the technology is too complex.”

    “One of the biggest problems facing Singapore’s and Malaysia’s F&B and retail industry is an acute labour shortage,” said Fave Singapore MD Ng Aik Phong. “The lack of skilled labour, coupled with new government restrictions on foreign workers, poses one of the biggest growth challenges for both countries. With Fave, merchants have experienced an impressive 70-per-cent increase in loyalty-return rates from their customers as compared to the industry average of around 20 per cent. Adding table ordering solutions is a step towards addressing what merchants in F&B need.”

  • Grab, Fave form strategic partnership to boost growth

    Grab, Fave form strategic partnership to boost growth

    Prominent O2O services Fave and Grab have announced a strategic partnership to accelerate growth for both platforms across the region.

    The partnership combines the strengths of Fave’s broad merchant network and FaveDeals platform with Grab’s large user base and growing ecosystem.

    Starting this week, Fave’s merchant sales team will onboard merchants for GrabFood and GrabPay in Singapore and Malaysia, aiming to further accelerate the growth of both firms’ respective food delivery and mobile wallet services in these countries. Later in October, Fave will expand its platform with GrabPay mobile wallet.

    Fave customers can already spend their GrabPay balance at restaurants and retailers in the Fave network and deals available on Fave. Users may spend their credits across multiple categories and receive discounts and cashback offers. As a result, Fave merchants will now be able to access Grab’s Asean-wide customer base of more than 110 million app downloads.

    The integration of the GrabPay wallet was done through GrabPlatform, a suite of APIs that enables partners to access components of Grab’s technology like logistics and payments. This is the first of its kind integration in a partner app for the Grab Platform.

    Grab Financial’s senior MD Reuben Lai said” “We’ve always believed that in order for the region to go cashless, we would need a collaborative approach and are happy we can now count Fave, one of the fastest growing O2O platform in Southeast Asia as a strategic partner. As the region’s leading fintech platform, we will increasingly offer integrations through GrabPlatform. This allows more local and global partners to tap into previously untapped consumers and grows the Grab ecosystem as an everyday app.”

    Founder of Fave Joel Neoh added: “This collaboration with Grab provides a valuable win-win situation for both merchants and consumers. By providing GrabPay wallet as a payment option on the Fave platform, our merchants will immediately benefit from additional customer traffic from the millions of people who use the Grab platform daily. For customers, we have just made life easier for paying at our Fave merchants by partnering with the leading mobile wallet in the region.”

    The two partners are exploring additional ways to collaborate and help small and medium-sized enterprises grow their business. Further collaborative efforts will be focused on integrating more services on both platforms.

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  • Fave Ready To Support Singapore’s Drive to Become a Cashless Society

    Fave Ready To Support Singapore’s Drive to Become a Cashless Society

    As Singapore seeks to accelerate its growth as a cashless society, online-to-offline (O2O) mobile platform, Fave is supporting restaurants and offline retailers to offer convenient mobile payments that aim to help them grow their business by rewarding customers.

    Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has signalled that Singapore must do more to avoid falling behind other cities in e-payments. He used his recent National Day speech to point out that 60% of transactions in Singapore still involve cash or cheques, despite the cities well-developed financial system and tech-savvy population.

    Fave, Southeast Asia’s leading food & beverage app, is supporting Singapore’s growth as a smart nation by making it easier for restaurants and offline retailers to offer cashless payment options and reward customers through FavePay, Fave’s newly launched mobile payments platform.  With more than two million subscribers already in Singapore, FavePay is now readily available for Singapore to begin adopting mobile payments. It is now accepted at over 150 outlets including Chocolate Origin, Four Seasons Durians, Rong Hua Bak Kut Teh, Wrap & Roll, Charcoal Thai and more.

    Andersen’s of Denmark, a luxury ice cream parlour with six locations across Singapore, initially adopted FavePay as a way to improve customer service and enhance its customer rewards programme. However, the FavePay-linked business tools are proving to be just as valuable.

    “We are pleased to be part of Singapore’s move to a smart, cashless nation. FavePay was easy to set up and the transaction process has been fast and problem-free from day one. From an operational point of view, we appreciate real-time transaction reports and detailed statement of account reports, which provide insights that we can use to refine our loyalty programmes and other marketing efforts,” said Ms Wong Khai Rhou, Business Manager of Andersen’s of Denmark.

    To use FavePay, consumers simply need to open their existing Fave app and scan the QR code at the participating restaurant or offline retailer before entering the total bill amount and confirming. Customers who use FavePay earn cashback of up to 30%, which they can redeem on their next visit. For merchants, FavePay is hassle free as Fave will provide them with a proprietary dashboard called FaveBiz that will allow them to get real time reporting, monitor performance as well as receive direct customer feedback.

    Fave merchants have the option to also accept Alipay, one of the world’s largest online and mobile payment platforms. Fave teamed up with Ant Financial, the financial affiliate of Alibaba Group, earlier this month to offer Chinese tourists visiting Singapore a seamless cross-border payment experience with Alipay.

    “Deploying FavePay to help restaurants and retailers succeed is one of the pillars of Fave’s business model. Together with Alipay, we provide fast and easy cashless mobile payments that support retailers in reaching out to new and return customers and delivering seamless service that tech-savvy Singaporeans are looking for,” said Ng Aik Phong, Managing Director of Fave Singapore. “Enabling retailers to benefit from low cost mobile payments is important to our smart city future and we are encouraged by PM Lee’s recent call towards a cashless society. FavePay is uniquely positioned to help both merchants and customers benefit from fast, cashless transactions.”

    “To enhance consumer adoption, FavePay is unique because besides being a cashless payment service, it also provides cashback of up to 30% that customers can use during their next visit. This has accelerated customer adoption at a rate of 50% week on week, as proven by our thousands of FavePay users since our introduction in mid-July.” added Mr Ng.

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  • Alipay Southeast Asia partners with Fave in Singapore

    Alipay Southeast Asia partners with Fave in Singapore

    Alipay Southeast Asia is partnering with Fave to roll out seamless cross-border payments via app, starting with Singapore.

    Fave, an online-to-offline (O2O) mobile platform and Alibaba Group’s financial affiliate Ant Financial will allow the Alipay app to be used for payments at restaurants and offline retailers that are part of the Fave ecosystem, with special offers and rewards for users.

    With 520 million users worldwide, Alipay is one of the world’s largest online and mobile payment platforms. As more than 3 million Chinese tourists are expected to visit Singapore this year, the ability to accept Alipay will greatly benefit local restaurants and retailers and Southeast Asia as a whole, according to Fave.

    “Restaurants and offline retailers are the backbone of the economy in Singapore, and we aim to help them succeed,” says Fave founder Joel Neoh. “While more than 90 per cent of retail spend is done offline, retailers are always looking for ways to reach out to mobile-savvy customers.”

    Regionally, Fave covers more than 10,000 restaurants and offline retailers, and has more than a million active users who can earn rewards in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

    “By partnering with innovators like Fave, we are giving Chinese travellers the safe, efficient and convenient payment services they are accustomed to at home,” says Alipay Southeast Asia head Dayong Zhang.

    According to Singapore Tourism Board (STB) preliminary estimates, more than 2.8 million Chinese travellers visited Singapore last year, proving the largest source of tourism receipts, spending more than S$3 billion (US$2.2 billion) to the end of September alone.

    Launched 12 months ago, Fave covers such segments as F&B, beauty and wellness, and lifestyle and activities, and has acquired Groupon Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. The company sprang from fitness sharing platform KFit.

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