Taiwan’s EZTable closes $5M funding round from MediaTek and UMC

EZTable founder Alex Chen pitches to a panel investors at Startup Asia Tokyo 2014

EZTable, the Taiwan-based restaurant reservation startup, disclosed this morning that it has raised a US$5 million funding round led by MediaTek, with participation from UMC, food conglomerate I-Mei, and others. Local business magazine Business Weekly broke the news its latest print edition, and the story was later picked up by Taiwanese tech blog Inside.

The winner of Startup Arena at Startup Asia Tokyo 2014, EZTable lets users book restaurant tables in advance through a mobile app. While the company was originally modeled after OpenTable, founder and CEO Alex Chen has altered that company’s mission in order to better suit markets in Asia. The company partners primarily with high-end restaurants, and earns most of its revenues by selling Groupon-esque vouchers.

Chen founded EZTable from Taiwan in 2009, and since then, the app has picked up a loyal userbase domestically. According to Inside, the company has helped drive NT$500 million (US$15 million) in transaction value through its app, and has partnered with a total of 900 restaurants.

When we last spoke with Chen in September, he told us that EZTable has offices in Hong Kong, Jakarta, and Bangkok, in addition to its base in Taipei. With its feet on the ground in Taiwan for so long, most of its growth will likely come from markets in Southeast Asia

EZTable’s investment stands out in particular because the MediaTek, UMC, and I-Mei firms don’t typically invest in early-stage consumer internet startups. While it’s not unheard of for large Taiwanese corporations to provide undisclosed investments or angel-sized contributions to the island’s internet entrepreneurs, it’s certainly not a trend, especially in the series A range.

We’ve reached out to EZTable for comment and will update this piece when we hear back.

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Taiwan’s EZTable closes $5M funding round from MediaTek and UMC