FunNow, an app to book instant entertainment and leisure activities in Taiwan, raises US$5M investment
FunNow claims to have signed over 3,000 vendors, providing more than 20,000 activities and services daily for its 500,000 members
The FunNow team
FunNow, an instant booking app for entertainment and leisure activities in Taiwan, has raised a US$5 million in Series A funding round, led by Alibaba Entrepreneur Fund.
Existing investor Taipei-based CDIB Innovation Accelerator Fund, besides new investors Darwin Venture and Accuvest, also joined the round .
The startup plans to use the funding to expand and accelerate its business to cities, including Hong Kong, Okinawa, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Bali, Osaka, and Tokyo.
This is the second largest investment round in the O2O lifestyle category in Taiwan, behind EZTable’s US$8.8 million in Series C.
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In July last year, FunNow had closed a US$1.5 million in pre-Series A funding to accelerate growth in its home market Taiwan and two other cities Hong Kong and Okinawa.
Launched in November 2015, FunNow allows people to instantly book entertainment activities. Its search engine and patented algorithm of real-time availability calculation, combined with the geolocation technology, allows customers get a glance of all the available slots within their perimeter almost instantly, claims the company. Through a few clicks, a user can make a reservation for activities such as body massage, bars or fun experiences, or a short getaway to the neighbouring cities without planning.
In the last two years, FunNow claims to have signed over 3,000 selective vendors, providing more than 20,000 activities and services daily for its 500,000 members to book instantly. The firm expects its 2018 revenue to reach US$16 million, 3x that of 2017.
FunNow CEO TK Chen said: “The consumer behaviour is changing — people tend not to plan their activities many days beforehand. Instant booking is the new lifestyle trend.”
According to Ryan Kuo, President of CDIB, FunNow had presented an excellent track record: four times YoY GMV growth, promising technology infrastructure of an on-demand solution, and the ambition to be the largest on-demand lifestyle app in East Asia.
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