Ensogo Eyeing SEA Expansion

After the successful acquisition in June last year by US daily deals giant LivingSocial, Ensogo projects further expansion into the South-East Asian (SEA) market in 2012. Ensogo is based in Thailand, with branches in the Philippines and Indonesia.

Ensogo Website

Ensogo aims to expand its business beyond the 3 million user base in South East Asia (Image: Ensogo)

US-based LivingSocial holds turf all over the world, including Australia, Korea, Europe and the Middle East. It is steadily gaining ground on global leader Groupon (Nasdaq: GRPN) — who wrestled with LivingSocial for the right to buy Ensogo, which is why it comes as no surprise Ensogo wants to bulk up on the SEA front.

There were talks in September last year that LivingSocial was looking to build up $200 million in private funds to put the value of its stock close to $6 billion. Groupon raised raised $700 million in November, putting the stock at $12.8 billion in its IPO — the largest IPO by a U.S. Internet company since Google Inc raised $1.7 billion in 2004. LivingSocial held off its IPO, announcing in December that it would raise up to $400 million.

Tom Srivorakul, Ensogo CEO and co-founder laid out his plans on increasing local-vendor partnerships and collaboration with banks, mobile operators and credit card companies. Srivorakul also wants to add hotel booking and restaurant reservation for Ensogo throughout the region.

Srivorakul established Ensogo with his brothers in Thailand on June 2010. They expanded to the Philippines and Indonesia and quickly dominated those markets in less than a year. So much so that the two leaders in the industry took notice and started wooing. Ensogo decided on LivingSocial, and Srivorakul still expresses his happines with Ensogo’s relationship with its parent company.

LivingSocial matched up with our vision the best. They let us keep our mojo and keep innovating.

Ensogo’s continued success means good things for everyone else in the region, as great deals on food, travel, accommodations and services make for very happy customers with spare money to spend on more goods and services.