Payment services firm American Express purchased Japan-based restaurant booking app Pocket Concierge for an undisclosed amount on Tuesday, enabling corporates Isetan Mitsukoshi, Adways, Line, Allied Architects and Fuji TV to exit.
Founded in 2011 and owned by holding company Pocket Menu, Pocket Concierge is a mobile app that enables users to find and book tables at more than 800 upmarket restaurants across Japan.
The app is available in Japanese, English and Chinese and incorporates payment tools to enable users to pay for meals more easily. American Express said it plans to integrate the offering into the card membership services it offers its members.
Isetan Mitsukoshi Innovations, the corporate venturing arm of department store operator Isetan Mitsukoshi, invested an undisclosed amount in the company in March 2017, according to Tech in Asia.
Pocket Menu received an undisclosed amount of series A funding in a 2016 round that included digital marketing firm Adways, social marketing company Allied Architects, iMercury Capital, 500 Startups Japan and Monex Ventures.
Fuji Startup Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for broadcaster Fuji TV, and Nippon Venture Capital backed the company’s $600,000 seed round in 2013, before Line Life Global Gateway, an investment vehicle for messaging service Line, added an undisclosed sum two years later.