Retail Asia 2018 JunJuly2018 | Page 39

E-COMMERCE

Carousell secures US $ 85m Series C shot in the arm

CLASSIFIEDS marketplace Carousell said that it has raised US $ 85 million in Series C funding , co-led by Rakuten Ventures and EDBI , with participation from existing investors , 500 Startups , Golden Gate Ventures and Sequoia India , as well as new investor , DBS , a Singapore based multinational banking and financial services corporation .
The capital injection will accelerate Carousell ’ s product innovation to reimagine classifieds in an aritificial inteligence ( AI ) -first world , the company said . A key component will be investment into talent and deep technology capabilities to elevate the Carousell marketplace .
“ In the past six years , we ’ ve gathered a lot more data , feedback and learnings about the problems and friction people face when buying and selling online . We are laser-focused on solving these problems with technology and catering to local cultural norms and behaviours in South-east Asia , while ultimately serving our core mission of inspiring everyone in the world to start selling ,” said Siu Rui Quek , Carousell ’ s cofounder and CEO .
“ The investment will enable us to continue building up our teams with top-tier talent to accelerate our development of highly anticipated features , and more AI and machine learning capabilities . We are grateful for the support of our new and existing investors , and their strong validation of our team ’ s execution capabilities , passion for the mission and product vision ,” he continued .
In the two years following its last round of funding , Carousell has quadrupled in volume globally , featuring more than 144 million listings and 50 million items sold , and expanded its marketplace offerings in Singapore . The latest round of funding will also be used to deepen the company ’ s presence in key markets and pave the way for the launch of more categories across the region . “ Carousell is a homegrown company well-loved by many and has redefined buying and selling on the mobile . It continues to place strong emphasis on innovation , leveraging AI to improve user experience . We are pleased to support and help Carousell expand across the region , riding on the exciting growth of the South-east Asian consumer markets ,” said Swee Yeok Chu , CEO and president , EDBI .
In conjunction with the investment ,

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Carousell began to realise its AI vision last year , with the launch of predictive features such as Smart Listings , personalised browsing and chatting experiences .
DBS and Carousell will be collaborating to offer financial products and payment services on Carousell ’ s platforms . DBS group CEO Piyush Gupta said : “ DBS has been leveraging digital technology and innovation to seamlessly integrate banking into the lives of customers . We ’ re stepping up our participation in ecosystems , improving the customer journey and using data to inform our offerings . The investment in Carousell further builds on that . As a strategic partner to Carousell , we can leverage Carousell ’ s platforms to connect to its community both inside and outside of Singapore , and strengthen our nextgeneration proposition jointly with Carousell .” ra

Zilingo raises US $ 54m in Series C funding

ONLINE fashion , beauty and lifestyle marketplace Zilingo has raised US $ 54 million in a Series C to grow further and expand internationally . This takes total funding raised by the company to US $ 82 million .
The round was led by Sofina , Burda Principal Investments and Sequoia Capital India . Amadeus Capital joins as a new investor . All existing investors participated in the round including American billionaire Tim Draper , SIG , Venturra , Beenext , Manik Arora along with others . This round comes close on the heels of Zilingo ’ s US $ 17 million Series B raised five months ago .
Ankiti Bose , co-founder and CEO , said : “ We think the market is showing us the right signs in terms of adoption and retention , so it ’ s good to double down . We are grateful to all the investors for continuously showing great faith in our team and our vision for fashion commerce in this region .”
Shailendra Singh , managing director , Sequoia ( India ) Singapore , said the Zilingo investment is special for Sequoia because its association started with a seed investment even before the Zilingo service was launched . “ Ankiti and Dhruv ( Kapoor , Zilingo ’ s co-founder and CTO ) have totally impressed us with the quality of team they have assembled , their innovative e-commerce strategy and playbook , and their speed and quality of execution , all of which resulted in more than 10 times ’ revenue growth in the past one year . This new round was finalised weeks after the last one and is a ringing endorsement of how much potential the investor group sees in the company . We ’ re glad to have invested significantly across all rounds the company has raised .”
Albert Shyy , principal at Burda , added : “ Zilingo is creating a complete ecosystem for merchants to grow their online fashion business in South-east Asia and beyond . We believe there is an untapped opportunity across the entire Asian fashion value chain and continue to be very impressed with the company ’ s trajectory ”
Founded in October 2015 , Zilingo currently sells in Indonesia , Thailand , and Singapore with more than 10,000 independent merchants using the platform to sell to millions of customers around Asia and the world . ra
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