E-commerce firm Fave acquires Groupon Singapore

The Groupon Singapore office located at UE Square in Clemenceau Avenue. PHOTO: ST FILE

E-commerce company Fave has acquired deals and discounts platform Groupon Singapore for an undisclosed sum.

This comes after Fave - formerly known as KFit - acquired Groupon Indonesia and Malaysia last year. The latest acquisition is set to "solidify the company's efforts in helping consumers save, while driving growth for local businesses across South-east Asia", a statement released yesterday said.

Groupon was among the pioneers of online daily deal vouchers - discounts available for only a limited period online.

Fave started in April 2015 as fitness-sharing platform KFit, which connects consumers with gyms and fitness studios. It has since expanded to include other areas such as beauty and wellness, as well as lifestyle activities.

Its "online-to-offline" model allows online consumers to purchase discounted offers and vouchers for brick-and-mortar retailers such as spas and gyms.

"With one of the highest smartphone penetration rates in the world at 85 per cent and a highly competitive market for offline businesses, Fave's ability to connect digitally savvy consumers to offline businesses will play a key role in the company's success in the region," said Fave Singapore managing director Ng Aik-Phong.

Founder Joel Neoh said Fave "helps our business partners succeed in mobile commerce by providing proprietary business tools and access to a highly engaged consumer audience".

Mr Neoh, a Malaysian entrepreneur, was behind group-buying site GroupsMore, which was acquired by Groupon. He then became Groupon's Asia-Pacific head before leaving to start KFit.

"We've seen tremendous growth in the adoption of online-to-offline platforms by local businesses across South-east Asia over the past year, and the benefits our platform offers today is just the beginning of more to come," he added.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on March 09, 2017, with the headline E-commerce firm Fave acquires Groupon Singapore. Subscribe