EZTABLE
EZTABLE is an online restaurant reservation platform, and the largest of its kind in Asia. Founded in Taipei, Taiwan, in Apr. 2008, its mission is to create the world's largest dining program. Similar to OpenTable in the U.S., EZTABLE allows its users to search, reserve, and prepay online. Reservations are free and can be made online via personal computer, tablet computer and smartphone. When users book online through EZTABLE, they have access to competitive pricing at the top restaurants in Asia.
Since its founding, EZTABLE has expanded to over 10,000 restaurants in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand and Indonesia. The platform now has more than 2 million members and more than 600,000 monthly active users. Over 10 million diners have booked reservations using its platform.
History
EZTABLE was co-founded by Alex Chen, Brooky Yen, Jerry Yen, and Peter Hsieh in April 2008. OpenTable, the online restaurant reservation company in the U.S., inspired the four. They found that consumers in Asia still made reservations via telephone, and decided to start their own online restaurant reservation business in Taiwan.In Aug. 2008, the website began operations serving a limited selection of restaurants. EZTABLE focused on O2O strategies, aiming to attract users online and direct them to physical stores in the offline realm. EZTABLE opened its first brick-and-mortar store in Taipei’s Nankang Software Park in March 2016. In the store, customers can make reservations, learn about the company’s two apps, and scan QR codes for EZTABLE gift cards.
In 2012, AppWorks, a famous accelerator in Asia, and Rose Park Advisors, an investment firm founded by Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen and his son Matthew Christensen, invested US$1.5 million in EZTABLE.
In January 2015, the company disclosed that it had raised a US$5 million funding round led by MediaTek, with participation from UMC, food conglomerate I-Mei, AppWorks and Rose Park Advisors.
In 2016, Japanese hotel and restaurant reservation company Ikyu invested US$8.8 million in EZTABLE, and the companies hope to promote tourism between their two countries.
| Year | Event |
| 2008 | *323 Technology Inc. was founded *EZTABLE was launched *First five-star hotel partner: Sheraton Taipei Hotel |
| 2009 | *Entered Innovation Incubator Center, JinWen University of Science & Technology *Received Service Innovation Project subsidy from Ministry of Economic Affairs, R.O.C. *Website reached more than 50,000 members and was introduced in CommonWealth magazine. |
| 2010 | *Joined appWorks Ventures and got investment *Provided online cake ordering service with Sheraton Taipei Hotel |
| 2011 | *Got NeoStar - Internet Entrepreneur Awards from Business Next magazine *Got IDEAS Show - Internet IDES of Far Easton Telecommunication Co., Ltd. Awards from Institute for Information Industry *Entered China Market *Launched the first iPhone application with Subcontractor |
| 2012 | *Owns over 70% market share of five-star hotels *Generating more than 1,000,000 reservation counts per year *Started e-commerce: Share Shopping – selling e-vouchers *Rose Park Advisors invested US$1.5 million in EZTABLE. *Sina Weibo invited EZTABLE to be their partner in Taiwan market *CEO, Alex Chen was invited to be one of HPAIR ASIA 2012 CONFERENCE SPEAKERS |
| 2014 | * Provided giftcard & point exchange services with CTBC bank, ESUN bank and HUA NAI bank. * Winner of Tech in Asia’s Startup Arena at StartupAsia Tokyo 2014 |
| 2015 | * Raised a US$5 million funding round led by MediaTek, UMC, I-Mei, AppWorks and Rose Park Advisors.
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| 2016 | * Opened first brick-and-mortar store in Taipei, Taiwan * Website and App seated over 10 million diners * Japanese reservation company Ikyu invested USD$8.8 million in EZTABLE * Changed slogan to “Moments, Booked” |