Chope Restaurant Reservations Closes $2.5M in Series B Funding

SINGAPORE, March 19, 2013 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Chope, Singapore's leading online restaurant discovery and reservations platform, announced today that it has secured its second financing round of S$3.2 million. The round was led by Singapore Press Holdings who took a non-controlling stake, and includes two other prominent Private Equity investor groups. The parties join first round investors such as Innosight Ventures, the venture arm of Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, and Hian Goh, co-founder of the Asian Food Channel, in supporting the company with strategic partnerships and board mentorship, while the startup's managing team remain in control of operations. The funds will be used to expand the young team, grow across Asia, and accelerate product development.

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Chope enables diners to make free instantly confirmed dining reservations on its website and mobile apps. Users are offered articles, menus, and contact details for restaurants, while for restaurant clients the company provides host-stand technology that enables hosts to manage bookings and build guest profiles online.

"We rapidly grew from nine restaurants and a handful of users to 225 restaurants, two countries, and nearly 10,000 diners per week in just 21 months," said co-founder and CEO Arrif Ziaudeen, who set the company up from savings in 2011 shortly after graduating from Stanford's Graduate School of Business. "Singaporeans increasingly use their smart-phones to make online reservations for taxis, movies, and airlines so we extended the idea to their favourite pastime, eating. We look forward to reaching the millions more diners who already read SPH's media about Chope."

Food and convenience-loving Singaporeans have responded enthusiastically: in addition to the impressive reservation numbers, Chope's mobile iOS app has spent 26 weeks in the Top 10 list of iTunes' Food & Drink category in the last 36 weeks, while the Android version was preloaded on all Samsung Galaxy S IIIs released in Singapore.

"More of Singapore's most popular restaurants, a wider range of functions for our users, and a Thank You party for our millionth reservation," jokes Arrif when asked about what comes next, but adds more seriously, "We're still an ambitious, independent startup growing our market leadership across Asia. There's a lot to be done, and we're definitely eager to get on with it."

About The Chope Group

The Chope Group is Asia's premier online restaurant reservations provider. With a range of products to meet the varying needs of restaurateurs, Chope helps restaurants use online booking channels, improve yield, and better keep track of their clients' preferences. Our websites www.chope.com.sg and www.chope.com.hk, and apps www.app.lk/chopeSG help diners discover the best and most popular restaurants, all while able to make reservations 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from anywhere in the world. With over 200 restaurants on the network and over a million diners seated, Chope is committed to making restaurant dining and discovery easier than ever before.

For more information, please contact [email protected].

Media Contact: Annie Lee Chope Pte Ltd, +65 90066482, [email protected]

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SOURCE The Chope Group