Robinhood sets out plans to be a 'super app'

Robinhood, a Thai food delivery platform under Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) group, plans to raise funds next year and launch three non-food services, aiming to become what it calls a regional "super application".

Thana Thienachariya, chairman of Purple Ventures Co, an SCB group tech startup, which operates the Robinhood platform, said that after being operational for a year, the platform had 2.3 million registered users with 164,000 merchants and around 20,000 riders. The platform does not charge gross profit or commission fees from merchants.

Users of Robinhood are largely SCB's existing customers and SCB credit cardholders, who have high purchasing power compared with other food delivery platform users.

Therefore, Robinhood has high potential in offering cross-selling services to existing clients, expanding its base of customers, and contributing greater income from advertisements, commissions, and digital loan services, Mr Thana added.

In 2022, the platform aims to grow to 4 million users and 300,000 merchants. The platform also plans to expand to cover three new services, including Robinhood Travel, an online travel agent.

The other two are Robinhood Mart, which will purchase products from supermarkets or shops as per customers' orders, and Robinhood Express goods delivery service.

Robinhood will also synergise with SCB X, the planned parent of SCB group, to offer financial products and services to riders and merchants.

Robinhood Travel will be a key focus for generating new income in line with the country's reopening plan.

"We expect to contribute better income under the business expansion plan, but Robinhood will still book losses for the next one to two years. With high growth potential, despite business operation losses, however, Robinhood plans to raise funds next year and become a super app," he said.

Robinhood began business operations last year with an initial investment budget of 150 million baht from SCB. The total investment budget for business expansion in the next one to two years is expected to be around 4-5 billion baht.

Mr Thana said Robinhood aims to be a regional app for the next phase, and the company has been exploring potential regional markets and business models.

He added that partnership will be a key strategy to grow the business, both in Thailand and abroad. Robinhood plans to join with other financial partners, both banks and non-banks, to offer other payment options to customers, besides SCB's current digital payments.