Robinhood food delivery app gets B100m rescue deal

Robinhood food delivery is set for a fresh start after SET-listed SKY ICT and shipping group Thoresen Thai Agencies agreed to buy the homegrown app's intellectual property in a 100-million-baht deal, the Bangkok Post reported, citing a source close to the deal.

The joint venture will take over the platform's software and brand logo. SKY ICT and Thoresen will each own 45% of the new entity, while Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), which created the app, will keep the remaining 10%.

According to the source, SCB's board has already approved the deal. Signing is expected by the end of November, and the new group plans to start running the service in December.

Why Robinhood food delivery changed hands again

Robinhood was launched by SCB's subsidiary Purple Ventures. In September 2024 the business was sold to a group of investors led by the century-old trading firm Yip In Tsoi for 2 billion baht. The price was made up of 400 million baht paid up front and up to 1.6 billion baht in performance-based payments.

Under that agreement, profits would be shared with SCB if the platform made money, while the business could be handed back to the bank if losses reached a critical level. The source said Yip In Tsoi had pulled back on marketing in recent months over worries about the heavy cash burn, and that its total spending, including the purchase and operating losses, had passed 500 million baht.

Yip In Tsoi will now return all Robinhood operations to SCB, and the new consortium will buy the core intellectual property and software directly from the bank. Deliveries are expected to continue without interruption during the handover.

Low fees to win back merchants

The new owners want to reposition Robinhood as a Thai "super app" able to compete head-on with the multinational delivery giants. Their main weapon will be price. Key points of the plan reported by the Bangkok Post include:

• A cap on the gross profit (GP) fee charged to restaurants of between 5% and 10.5%, compared with roughly 30% at foreign-owned platforms
• Price parity, so vendors who accept the lower fee must charge online customers the same menu prices as walk-in diners
• A "quick-win" campaign right after the official announcement to rebuild trust with merchants
• A first-year operating budget of 300 million baht
• All 82 current employees to be kept on

Robinhood has around 100,000 registered merchants, but the number of active vendors has fallen to the tens of thousands, the source said. Winning those restaurants back will be the first big test for the new owners.

A long runway for losses

The consortium expects to lose money at first. It has planned a financial runway that can absorb losses of up to 1 billion baht during the relaunch, and is aiming to break even within three years, according to the source.

That is a big bet in a crowded market. Thailand's food delivery sector is dominated by large regional and foreign players, and many local restaurants complain that high commissions eat into already thin margins. A low-fee local alternative could appeal to small vendors, from street food stalls to family restaurants in tourist areas such as Phuket, if it can attract enough riders and customers.

The deal also comes as the government tightens oversight of the digital economy. Our recent reports on new rules for online platforms and on Thailand's import duties on overseas e-commerce orders explain how the rules for online businesses are changing.

For readers who prefer to eat out rather than order in, our guide to Thai street food is a good place to start.

The original report was published by the Bangkok Post.

Image: A Grab delivery rider on Sathon Nuea Road in Bangkok, illustrating the competitive market Robinhood food delivery is returning to. Photo by Chainwit. via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.