"Robinhood" expands its social enterprise model to help hoteliers recovering after the Covid-19

Robinhood’s homegrown food delivery application developed by SCB Group company Purple Ventures, now has more than one million users since its launch seven months ago. The application has helped generate income for small food merchants with no Gross Profit (GP) fees, and created jobs for delivery riders to help them survive the current economic crisis during the pandemic. The Robinhood application will continue to embrace its social enterprise model by creating a new "Zero GP OTA" platform to expand Robinhood’s scope of services to Online Travel Agent (OTA) services. The extended service will continue to adhere to its commitment of not charging Gross Profit (GP) fees in order to assist SME hotel entrepreneurs in reducing their OTA costs. The new platform is scheduled to roll out early next year when the COVID-19 situation begins to abate and tourism rebounds. 

In announcing the new features, Mr. Srihanath Lamsam, Managing Director of the Robinhood food delivery platform developed by Purple Ventures Co., Ltd.,  remarked that, “Since the formal debut of the Robinhood food delivery platform seven months ago the application has followed a policy of not charging any GP fees.  As a result, the platform is growing in every dimension. We would like to express our gratitude to the over one million  users who have downloaded Robinhood. Their orders have helped the over 90,000 small merchants listed on Robinhood get through the current crisis by receiving over 2.3 million orders worth over 500 million baht. They have also helped create opportunities for over 15,000 delivery riders."

“We also plan to expand Robinhood service to other provinces this year, starting with Chiang Mai and Chon Buri, which have great potential and demand for food delivery services.  Moreover, around June 2021 Robinhood and partners will collaborate to pilot a service providing daily electric motorcycle (EV) rentals to those delivery riders without motorcycles. Furthermore, we are planning to step into the express and mart service for grocery orders soon.  This will be a new feature allowing small merchants to place raw material orders at wholesale prices via the platform, which will help them cut costs while sustaining the ecosystem that benefits both merchants and customers. This move will help create additional jobs for delivery riders during off-peak periods when customers order fewer meals,” added Mr. Srihanath Lamsam.

Mr. Thana Thienachariya, Chairman of the Board of Purple Ventures Co., Ltd. added that, “Robinhood is a platform developed by a company under the SCB Group, with a mission to develop a social enterprise model in parallel with running core banking businesses.  The crucial goal is to help the small entrepreneurs that are critical to driving the country’s economic success. Although Robinhood started with the food industry, there is another major industry that will also be a vital economic driver, namely tourism and hospitality.  We are therefore preparing to launch a new version of Robinhood called "Zero GP OTA".  In line with the Robinhood principle, it will not charge GP fees. The platform and the support of more than one million Robinhood users will help hoteliers.  We foresee this timing as ideal as it will coincide with an anticipated rebound in tourism. Development will be carried out in line with Bank of Thailand regulatory requirements."

 “Robinhood is devoted to embracing a social enterprise model to serve as a source of inspiration for entrepreneurs, delivery riders, and customers by helping them overcome their struggles during this difficult time,” said Mr. Thana Thienachariya.