About ZAP
ZAP is a loyalty and rewards platform founded in 2012 by four friends — Dustin Cheng, Terence Lok, Angelique Uy, and Justin Lim — who wanted to help Philippine merchants turn one-time customers into repeat ones. It launched publicly in March 2013 with 50 merchant partners, backed early by Kickstart Ventures (Globe Telecom’s startup arm), letting shoppers earn 5-20% cashback using just their mobile number instead of a physical loyalty card.
Over the following decade ZAP grew from a pure loyalty program into a broader merchant technology platform. It raised a disclosed US$550,000 round from Kickstart Ventures and Venture Capital Holdings in 2017, briefly expanded into Malaysia via a joint venture with AirAsia in 2016, and during the pandemic launched ZAP E-Store, a Shopify-integrated online ordering and delivery tool built for food and beverage merchants — which grew roughly five-fold in its first year, from 75 to 483 F&B businesses. That growth helped ZAP secure a Series A round from True Digital Group, the digital arm of Thailand’s True Corporation, announced in 2022; the amount of that round was not publicly disclosed, so this profile does not state a total funding figure.
ZAP is headquartered in Pasig City and, per its own LinkedIn listing, employs around 18 people. The company says it works with over 1,000 merchants and more than 4 million users, with brand partners including Chatime, Vikings, Kiehl’s, and Total. It has since added ZAP Fetch, an AI business-intelligence tool, and a reservations product.
The Problem They're Solving
Small and mid-sized Philippine merchants struggle to turn one-time shoppers into repeat customers and lack unified data across in-store and online sales.
Who They Serve
Food & beverage and retail merchants in the Philippines, from single-location shops to established retail and F&B chains.
What Makes Them Different
Uses just a customer's mobile number instead of a physical card, and has broadened from a pure loyalty program into a merchant e-commerce and analytics platform (ZAP E-Store, ZAP Fetch) built specifically around Philippine F&B businesses.
Traction & Milestones
Over 1,000 merchant partners including Chatime, Vikings, Kiehl's and Total, more than 4 million users, and a 2022 Series A round from Thailand's True Digital Group following a disclosed US$550,000 2017 seed round backed by Kickstart Ventures.