The city of Bangkok has a population of over 9 million citizens who want to, occasionally, wine and dine at the finest restaurants. However, because of Thailand’s exquisite cuisine, restaurants often get overcrowded with many customers not being able to make a reservation or sit down for a meal at all!

To rescue restaurants and solve the issue with overbooking, 4 young entrepreneurs from Thailand formed an online platform that helps customers make quick reservations in restaurants in all of Asia.

Eatigo is the number one, reservation-making platform that transformed the whole food industry of Asia. Through Eatigo, customers can make a reservation and get discounts ahead of time at their favorite restaurants in Southeast Asia. Not only is everything online, assuring you efficient time-management, but is also pretty user-friendly.

If you want to learn more about the captivating story of Eatigo and how it caters to billions of people daily, continue reading down below.

Similar Lives

Pumin Yuvacharuskul was born in August of 1984 in Thailand to a loving family. As a child, Pumin was regarded as a positive, happy, and hyperactive child. He had a spark in his step and a smile on his face whether he was alone or with company. Pumin was a pretty social and enthusiastic child with big ideas in mind. Those ideas grew even larger when he got his first computer. This jolted his journey into engineering.

Judy Tan was born in Singapore, Thailand in the late 1980s. Unlike her peers, Judy was not the typical girly girl. Her interests grew deeper and deeper, and she was described to always be brooding. Judy went to an all-girls school, but she stood out from the crowd. She might have been quiet but her mind was loud. Judy had big dreams of becoming a leader, a successful and clever businesswoman. She decided to dedicate her life to fulfilling that dream, with a lot of patience and a lot of hard work.

Siddhanta Kothari is the oldest among the founders and comes from India. His parents were well educated and had nice jobs, so Siddhanta had many people to look up to.

As a child, his favorite pastimes would include calculus and lots of math. He had many goals for his career, but math always had to do something with them. Siddhanta excelled at school and would constantly get praises from his teachers. He knew that he was destined for greatness, and one day he would prove it.

Michael Cluzel was born in the late 1970s in California, USA. Unlike the other co-founders, Michael was a born businessman. He was a clever smooth-talker that could charm almost everybody. His hobbies revolved around selling ideas and pitching thoughts for different solutions. He had a mind destined for brainstorming and he would constantly captivate his classmates with plans about the future.

Becoming Scholars

Pumin was a stellar student, focusing on scoring as many high grades as possible, so he could continue his journey to becoming an engineer. Thanks to his effort, Pumin enrolled in the University College of London where he earned a Master’s degree in engineering. Afterward, Pumin returned to Thailand for many more exciting ventures.

Judy, on the other hand, never stood still. She was busy with scoring a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the Nanyang Technological University. Judy, as per usual, graduated with high honors and gathered enough courage to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a successful businesswoman. She moved to London in 1996, where she earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration. It was during her time in London that she met Pumin.

Siddhanta spent his teenage years improving his calculative skills. His dream was to become an accountant and he slowly did. Through dedication, strive and patience, he too could make his parents and himself proud. In 1996, Siddhanta became a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. This was a valid, priceless honor that Siddhanta experienced as he finally became a chartered accountant. Michael, on the other hand, was busy scoring a Master’s degree in economics and ventured into entrepreneurship. When he was offered an opportunity to fly to Thailand in 2005, he did not hesitate to take it. This period is when many of the founders would slowly cross paths.

Tech-Ventures

All of the four founders had extensive and impressive backgrounds. Each of them had specific interests and a full-on CV of different ventures and business-wise values.

At one moment in early 2010, Judy and Pumin found themselves at the same party as Sidhhanta and Michael, in Thailand. It was a private party and Judy and Pumin had met the owner before in London. Their friend listened to their impressive stories of different ventures into the business world like Michael being the COO of Digicel and Siddhata taking the place as CFO at Digicel Trinidad and Tobago. Even though they worked for the same company, Siddhartha and Michael barely spoke but admired each other and their work.

Once the four professionals from four different countries met, the rest was history. Their story is as inspirational as any start-up story, with them discussing the overpopulation problem in Thailand. They thought of the people who never sat down for a meal and went hungry because of overcrowded food joints. This is when the brainstorming kicked in.

In early 2013, Judy, Pumin, Sidhhanta, and Michael launched Eatigo.com in Bangkok, Thailand. The 4 founders drew inspiration from the growing popularity of using demand-based pricing and discounts. All of them had noticed that airline and hotel markets were ever so present on different online apps. Michael and Siddhanta were especially experts in the field of marketing and knew that the best way to get across is through e-commerce.

Siddhanta focused on researching how much of the Thai restaurants have a capacity of less than 35%. So to avoid mobs of customers, they founded Eatigo simultaneously in Singapore and Thailand, in 2013.

Eat and Go

Eatigo was created to help restaurants significantly maximize their capacity and thus increase their revenue. Thanks to an online platform, customers can reserve their spot in their favorite restaurant in advance. This was something a country like Thailand has never seen, after hundreds of years battling with overcrowding.

The online platform can be downloaded by anyone in Asia, looking for a bite to eat as quickly as they can. Eatigo forwards the customers to the closest restaurant, depending on their capabilities and likings. Customers can choose from versatile opinions stemming from the most beautiful locations to the biggest discounts to the richest menus, all available a click away. The best thing about the app is that it governs in real-time, so the worry about finding a place to eat is reduced to the minimum.

It seemed like Eatigo boomed once it launched because everyone, including their grandmas, was downloading it in Asia. To avoid the masses of people, customers relied on Eatigo.

The fast-spreading was not easy for the four founders at the beginning, however, they slowly grew accustomed. Because of their background in entrepreneurship, the four partners were ready for every challenge the market could throw at them. Thanks to Eatigo, restaurants can have an increased revenue even in off-seasons.

In March of 2016, three years after its launch, Eatigo gained its first sign of recognition when it raised $15.5 million in the form of an investment from the popular TripAdvisor.

A year after, the founders acquired Ressy, another restaurant discount app. This was another strategic move to get more users onboard Eatigo.

Another huge investment came in 2018 when TripAdvisor was included as an investor with $10 million in a funding round. In total, Eatigo had raised $25.5M in funding over 3 rounds.

Eatigo, Today

It wasn’t all fun and games for Eatigo. Before entering the world of online dining reservations, the four co-founders had to pave their own way and jump over some serious hurdles. Facing some fierce competition from apps like Eazydiner, Eat, Toptable, and Dineout, among others, Eatigo had to prove itself.

Currently, Eatigo is regarded as Southeast Asia’s number 1 restaurant reservation and ranking app, present on millions of cell phones. It was through their strategic planning that millions of people with empty stomachs got access and a seat into the best restaurants Asia can offer.

Today, the company has 4 founders, 100+ employees, and millions of users. Its headquarters are in Bangkok, but the company is expanding throughout the world. Currently, Eatigo is present in Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, and India.
Eatigo now has served over 5 million dinners at more than 4,000 restaurants.

The four founders were successful before, but it was through giving back to the community that they conquered the entire Asian food industry. Thanks to them, anyone can book and dine at the top restaurants at reasonable prices, or even get a 50% discount. It’s a win-win situation for owners and consumers. Eatigo is the refreshment Bangkok needed to solve its overpopulation problem. With Eatigo, no more customers will go hungry and everyone has a seat ready for them!