E-commerce aggregator platform iPrice Group has raised US$10 million (S$13.9 million) in total in its Series B funding round.
The funding round was led by ACA Investments Pte Ltd, alongside Daiwa PI Partners as well as returning investors LINE Ventures and Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund.
With this funding round in place, iPrice is set to become Southeast Asia’s best online shopping companion platform and the key e-commerce enabler for super apps.
iPrice Group CEO & Co-Founder David Chmelar said that the investment will be used to deepen the company’s value proposition towards its users and expand its number of partners, making iPrice the prime gateway for online shoppers.
What’s more, iPrice Group relocated to its brand new expanded office in Bangsar South in Kuala Lumpur yesterday (2 March) in a bid to cater to the company’s expansion as it seeks to accommodate its continued growth.
In 2014, iPrice Group emerged as a one-stop-shop e-commerce destination in the midst of consumers being bombarded with endless options from numerous different e-commerce sites.
Throughout the years, it worked its way to becoming a prominent player in the Asia Pacific market, specifically in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong.
Today, iPrice Group has about 1.5 billion products available from more than 1,500 merchant partners. Last year, it recorded 5 million transactions with more than 20 million monthly visitors.
Predicted by Google and Temasek to be a US$150 billion GMV industry by 2025, iPrice’s growth is supplemented by the rosy outlook of Southeast Asian e-commerce.
“We definitely aim to double our size [the transactions] every year in general. Sometimes in the past, we have tripled. If that happens this year, that’s fantastic — but if we stay on doubling, we’re good,” said Mr Chmelar in a media interview yesterday.
Given the rapid rise and fall of e-commerce players and the fast-changing nature of the online ecosystem, online shoppers are in need of one platform that aggregates endless products and merchants. Hence, iPrice aims to make the consumers’ shopping experience easier by being present for them in every avenue of online shopping.
“To pursue our next journey, we need to be where the consumers are. We need to engage with users directly on our platform, continue our strong presence in Google LLC as it remains a vital starting point for many shoppers and enable partners across the region such as media platforms, social media apps and all the emerging super apps to provide e-commerce content for their audience,” noted Mr Chmelar.
Meanwhile, ACA Investments Pte Ltd Chief Investment Officer Tomohiro Fujita remarked that the e-commerce industry in Southeast Asia is at its emerging stage and there is a huge potential.
“iPrice Group will play an important role, especially with its comprehensive coverage of markets in Southeast Asia. It’s the prime gateway to online shopping,” he added.
