RHB in exclusive collaboration with TableApp

• Bank to provide lifestyle offerings and e-commerce payment services
• TableApp closed Series A round in Oct, with 500 Startups and others

 
RHB Banking Group has announced a three-year exclusive partnership with Malaysian startup TableApp, which runs an online restaurant reservation portal of the same name.
 
RHB group managing director and chief executive officer Khairussaleh Ramli said this collaboration was the banking group’s first with a startup, and was part of its ‘Digital Journey’ initiative to provide lifestyle offerings and e-commerce payment services to its customers.
 
“We aim to complement our customers’ dining experience with the convenience of cashless payment options via RHB Now, exclusive discounts for RHB cardholders, as well as the ability to purchase TableApp discounts via RHB’s Mobile Lifestyle App,” he said.
 
“In the future, we will also look into integrating TableApp’s restaurant reservation solution with our banking applications,” he said at the official launch in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 26.
 
RHB Signature, Infinite and Platinum cardholders are entitled to cashback discounts when they make bookings via TableApp from Nov 26, 2015 to Feb 29 2016.
 
Khairussaleh said building an ecosystem for digital solutions and payments is one of the key focus areas in RHB’s “reframed strategy,” in order to differentiate itself and to drive sustained growth and market leadership.
 
Driven by customer needs, he said RHB’s digital go-to-market proposition would be centred on six key themes: Segment-focused, financial empowerment, simple and easy interaction, digital business enablement, and startup and customer collaborations.
 
Khairussaleh was coy when asked what the targeted outcomes from this exclusive partnership were.
 
“I can only say that this partnership is mutually beneficial to both parties, where having TableApp is going to be a value-add service for our customers,” he said.
 
TableApp provides a free online restaurant reservation service for diners, and a guest management solution for restaurants via its website and mobile app.
 
Founded in 2013, its founder and chief executive officer Benson Chang claimed its user base has reached 100,000 in Malaysia and Thailand.
 
There are now 380 restaurants in the Klang Valley and 100 in Bangkok listed on TableApp, and Chang said he was looking to grow the number to 1,000 by end-2016.
 
The startup just closed a Series A funding round in October, having a raised “seven-figure amount” in Malaysian currency from 500 Startups, Kathrein Ventures and Sea Unicorn.
 
“The funds will be used to enhance our marketing initiatives and regional expansion,” Chang said, adding that Cambodia or the Philippines would likely be the next market it will venture into.
 
Chang said he hoped the exclusive agreement with the banking group would increase the startup’s market exposure, noting that according to Khairussaleh, RHB has about three million users which TableApp can leverage on.
 
TableApp’s mobile app is available for the Android and iOS platforms, while the Windows Phone version is still “in its development process,” he added.
 
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