Y Combinator and Meta have invested $1 million in Take App, a Singapore-based e-commerce tool.
The primary product of Take App, which was founded just a year ago, is a website builder with a direct WhatsApp connection that assists retailers in accepting orders and payments. The business teamed up with Stripe to process transactions and offer regionally specific payment options like PayNow in Singapore and GrabPay in Malaysia.
The software also enables online merchants to broadcast messages to their clients that resemble newsletters.
Although Take App offers the service without charge, it will charge customers for premium options like personalized domain names and more sophisticated statistics.
The business said in a statement that it has signed up 1,000 merchants from 35 different nations, with Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia accounting for the majority of them. Restaurants make up the majority of the company’s clientele, but it also includes users who own bakeries, grocery stores, and beauty parlours.
Former Facebook engineering manager Youmin Kim founded Take App. Given that he worked on Messenger commerce and marketplaces for a major internet company, using messaging applications like WhatsApp for purchasing was not a novel concept to him. He also discovered information regarding small business owners in Southeast Asia there.
The business is a member of the Winter 22 cohort of Y Combinator, which includes businesses from Southeast Asia. It intends to utilize the new financing to test out its products and determine the product-market fit.
