TakeMe raises USD1.8 million to expand its Japan’s restaurant reservation service for international tourists

Japan’s cross-border payment start-up TakeMe has announced a total of JPY260 million (USD1.8 million) funding. The round was led by New Economy Ventures and individual investors.

TakeMe was founded in 2015 by Lu Dong who grew up in China, spent 18 years in Japan, and earned MBA from the US (Stanford). TakeMe was started as a cross-border B2B service, called Japan Foodie, that provides restaurant reservation service between foreign tourists and Japan’s restaurants. By connecting with OTAs and traffic platforms around the world such as Klook, KKday, Meituan, Fliggy, Ctrip, and Tripadvisor, TakeMe has connected millions of foreign tourists with more than 400 restaurants across Japan.

In 2019, TakeMe launched TakeMe Pay, a multi-channel cross-border payment gateway, that aggregates more than 100 payment brands from around the world, such as WeChat Pay, Alipay, PayPay, LINE Pay, Merpay, GrabPay, and others into one QR code. TakeMe Pay has enabled over 10,000 Japan’s merchants to accept global mobile payment
methods, which help them attract more foreign customers.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, TakeMe launched TakeMe Order, which is a restaurant ordering management system to support contactless ordering and to improve store operation efficiency. TakeMe Order has been implemented in more than 50 business categories such as Soup Stock Tokyo and Umegaoka Sushi no Midori.