Vietnam e-commerce site Sendo secures $51 million for expansion plans
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Vietnam’s growing potential has helped nation’s leading C2C platform attract more venture capital funds.
In the Series B funding round, the SBI Group and Daiwa PI Partners from Japan, Softbank Ventures Korea and the U.S.-based SKS Ventures were the new investors.
Series B in venture capital financing refers to funding sourced to take a firm to the next level, past its development stage.
All existing investors – FPT Group, eContext Asia, BEENEXT, and BEENOS – also participated in the Series B funding.
Nguyen Dac Viet Dung, executive chairman and co-founder of Sendo, said: “The funding will help the company expand the C2C (customer to customer) platform Sendo, launch the B2C (Business to Customer) marketplace SenMall, and make SenPay the leading fintech platform in Vietnam.
In a fast-growing e-commerce market, Sendo has differentiated itself by focusing on not only Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City but also the hitherto untapped Tier 2 cities’ population, where 70 million Vietnamese people live.
Sendo, which was established in 2012, currently has more than 300,000 sellers serving around 10 million customers nationwide.
A report last April cited Bain, a U.S.-based global management consulting firm as saying online businesses were booming in Southeast Asia.
Bain estimated that the region had 200 million digital consumers, or people who bought goods or services online, out of an adult population of 405 million. Vietnam, with a population of 93.7 million, accounted for 35 million of these consumers.
Questions & Answers
Q.Which new investors contributed to Sendo's Series B funding round?
Which new investors contributed to Sendo's Series B funding round?
The new investors in the Series B funding round were the SBI Group and Daiwa PI Partners from Japan, Softbank Ventures Korea, and the U.S.-based SKS Ventures.
Q.How will Sendo use the capital raised in the Series B funding?
How will Sendo use the capital raised in the Series B funding?
The funding will be used to expand the C2C platform Sendo, launch the B2C marketplace SenMall, and develop SenPay into a leading fintech platform in Vietnam.
Q.What is Sendo's strategy for differentiation in the e-commerce market?
What is Sendo's strategy for differentiation in the e-commerce market?
Sendo differentiates itself by focusing on untapped Tier 2 cities, where 70 million Vietnamese people reside, in addition to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Q.How many digital consumers are there in Southeast Asia according to a recent report?
How many digital consumers are there in Southeast Asia according to a recent report?
A report last April cited Bain as estimating there were 200 million digital consumers in Southeast Asia, out of an adult population of 405 million.
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