Why I built kuai.io, a booking system for Southeast Asia

In sunny Singapore, booking a haircut or massage still often means ringing the shop or texting over WhatsApp. Across Southeast Asia, many businesses still write bookings into notebooks. Customer information, staff preferences, or visit history? You usually have to ask, dig through chats, or call to find out.

Despite the rise of digital platforms in the West, most of those tools don't fit how small businesses in this region actually operate.

That's why I built kuai.io.

Why Existing Tools Don’t Work Here

The gap between what Silicon Valley offers and what Southeast Asian businesses need is real! Here are a few things that make the region unique:

• WhatsApp is king. It’s the primary communication tool between customers and businesses.
• QR codes are everywhere. From restaurant menus to advertisements to payments, they’re deeply integrated into daily life.
• Local payments matter. Platforms like PayNow, PayLah!, and NETS are preferred over credit cards because they avoid processing fees.
• Regulatory quirks. Some businesses, like massage parlors, must collect customer identity details during booking.
• Upselling & customer tiers. Businesses rely on loyalty packages, personalized service, and preferred time slots for VIP customers.

I don’t believe these businesses are “behind” or resistant to digitalization, they’re simply underserved by the existing platforms.

The Cost of Using the Wrong Tools

Most global scheduling platforms weren’t designed for multi-branch beauty salons in Jakarta or small wellness clinics in KL. And that shows. Monthly costs can run into the thousands for a business with multiple locations. Many platforms don’t offer local currencies or charge in USD, which adds FX fees and uncertainty. They often lack support for regional payment methods, local holidays, or even multilingual interfaces.

Meanwhile, customers are left frustrated. We value convenient and “kuai” (fast) service, and prefer minimal contact where possible (we are kan chiong spiders, after all). But if I want to know who served me last time, or rebook with the same person, I need to call and ask. That kind of information should be at our fingertips in the AI era.

A very real WhatsApp conversation last week

A Platform Built for Southeast Asia

It's a booking system designed to work the way small businesses in Asia actually operate - fast, local, and flexible.

Here’s what makes kuai.io different:

• Flat monthly pricing. No commissions, no per-booking charges
• Staff, holiday, and multi-location management
• Email notifications and modify/cancel your bookings
• Customer login to manage their appointments
• Public booking links that customers can access anytime
• Timezone support built for Asia
• Payments through Stripe if you take deposits
• QR link to booking page
• (Coming soon) Support for PayNow and other local payments
• (Coming soon) WhatsApp notifications and bookings
• (Coming soon) Regional language support

Best of all, it works whether you're a solo business owner or managing multiple locations and teams, at a much lower price than competing products.

The Future Is Fast and Personalised

There's enormous potential to use AI to improve service experiences. From smarter scheduling to remembering preferences and surfacing insights for both business owners and customers. I see kuai.io as just the start. This is a commodity of agentic systems of the future.

We’re not building another SaaS tool from the West. We’re building something local-first, mobile-first, and respectful of the way people actually do business in Asia.

Join the journey

kuai.io is taking on early adopters who want a simple platform to better serve their customers, without giving up profits to commissions or struggling with tools that don’t fit.

If you’ve ever had to scroll through WhatsApp to figure out who your last therapist or stylist was...you’ll get why this matters.

Try kuai.io, or get in touch at https://kuai.io/kuai