Lazada gets another US$250mil in funding
By Digital News Asia December 11, 2013
- First investment by Tesco into a pure online player in SEA
- In addition to US$100-mil funding round secured in June
REGIONAL online shopping mall Lazada said it has raised a funding round from a group of investors including Tesco Plc, Access Industries, Investment AB Kinnevik and Verlinvest, adding approximately US$250 million to its balance sheet.
In June, the Rocket Internet subsidiary announced that it had secured US$100 million in funding from its existing investors as well as new investor at the time, Verlinvest, a Belgian family-owned, consumer-focused investment holding company.
The latest round of funding marks the first investment by multichannel retailer Tesco into a pure online player in the region, and is the starting point of close cooperation between the parties, Lazada said in a statement.
This partnership will span across customer analytics, private label development and supply chain management, the company said.
“We are delighted to welcome Tesco and Access to join our investor group through this funding round,” said Lazada group chief executive officer Maximilian Bittner (pic).
“That the investment is also joined by Kinnevik and Verlinvest – which know our business and operations extremely well – demonstrates that we are making great progress in building a large and sustainable company in South-East Asia,” he added.
Meanwhile Tesco group multichannel director Robin Terrell said: “This investment in South-East Asia’s largest e-commerce retailer continues our strategy of developing leading multichannel businesses in core growth markets.
“Lazada is an exciting, pioneering business which has developed a market-leading offer in each of its five markets in just 18 months. As South-East Asia’s 600 million consumers begin to use smartphone technology to access retailers online, Lazada has established a strong position from which to grow.”
Lazada said it has around 1,500 employees across five South-East Asian countries. In August, opened up its platform to third-party merchants to increase assortment and allow both large and small suppliers to take advantage of its traffic volumes.
It also continued building its category mix by expanding into fashion, and developed an affiliate programme that it said would help the region’s broader Web community to flourish by providing web portal and blog owners an opportunity to monetise their website.
“Lazada’s management team has put the company on a path to become the premier online shopping destination in South-East Asia. We are pleased to be part of this dynamic success story,” said Jörg Mohaupt of Access Industries.
“Strategic cooperation between long-term financial investors and industry partners can add significant growth momentum and enhanced profitability to e-commerce businesses,” said Kinnevik chief executive officer Mia Brunell Livfors.
Lazada said it has also launched Lamido in Indonesia and Vietnam, to tap into the large informal e-commerce market of C2C transactions which includes thousands of shops on social networks such as Facebook.
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