Eatigo, a Thailand-based startup that helps restaurants stay busy during off-peak hours, announced today that it has raised an undisclosed “pre-Series C” round of funding from existing investor TripAdvisor. Tech in Asia reports that this new cash brings the total amount of funding raised by Eatigo to more than $25 million.
According to the Eatigo’s Crunchbase profile, the company “connects empty tables with empty stomachs using time-based discounts.” Eatigo helps restaurants optimize their resources by offering deals for off-peak hours, similar to what Gebni does here in the U.S.. Eatigo operates in six countries across Southeast Asia including India, Malaysia and the Philippines.
With this investment, TripAdvisor continues to expand its interest in food, and illustrates that it wants in on your eating action — no matter where you chow down when traveling. As noted, this is the second time it has invested in Eatigo, which looks to help get people into restaurants. But TripAdvisor also wants to facilitate bringing food to you.
Just last month TripAdvisor entered into a partnership with Delivery.com, which allows people in the TripAdvisor app to order food for delivery from 12,000-plus restaurants. This agreement with delivery.com added another arrow to TripAdvisor’s delivery quiver, which includes partnerships with Grubhub and Deliveroo.
For its part, Eatigo says the new money will be used to expand into new markets, though Asia will remain a key focus for the company. Additionally, TripAdvisor’s reservation portal, The Fork, will help Eatigo with its expansion plans.