Shopmatic, a Singapore-based e-commerce company providing a platform for merchants and individual entrepreneurs to sell online, has raised $5.7 million of Series A funding led by ACP Pte Ltd, a technology focussed Venture Capital firm, and SPRING SEEDS Capital Pte. Ltd, an investment subsidiary of SPRING Singapore.
After having successfully scaled its operations in India, Singapore and Hong Kong, Shopmatic will be using the funds to expand into other markets in Indonesia, the Philippines and the Middle East. Thus expansion of its global footprint is on the card.
Sameer Narula, Managing Partner, ACP, will be joining the Board of Directors of Shopmatic as a part of this round of funding.
Founded in December 2014 by Anurag Avula, Yen Ti Lim, and Kris Chen, Shopmatic caters to a multitude of merchants and individual entrepreneurs, who are selling their products and services with minimal online presence or none at all. From building a website to listing it on an e-marketplace, promoting it on social channels, and providing useful customer insights, Shopmatic handles everything that merchants and individuals need to grow their business online.
Data analytics and insights which ascertain seasonal demand and repeat customers enable users to offer special rewards to enhance customer experience, optimise inventory to help sellers be more effective in reaching out to their target audience. With these data insights, one can tweak inventory and pricing strategy to further boost sales
Anurag Avula, CEO of Shopmatic, said, “We have witnessed tremendous growth in merchants leveraging our platform with monthly growth rates in excess of 40%. Our approach of simplicity with a wide value proposition to our customers has deepened our engagement with sellers and grown the category of online sellers. With this round of funds, we aim to expand our service to a wider seller base across more markets in Asia and other emerging markets. We are delighted to have ACP and SPRING SEEDS Capital as our strategical partners and as part of our growth story.”
In Nov 2016, it launched a mobile app “Shopmatic Go” that enables sellers quickly to build online sites using their mobile phones. The platform claims to clock 50,000 downloads, just weeks after its launch. While for a new merchant it charge nothing to help it recruits newbies into the digital world; for others the company offers a subscription model of $20/month. According to Industry analysts, there is a vast business possibility in Indian market and hand holding approach adopted by Shopmatic could prove instrumental.
Out of an estimated 51 million small and medium enterprises in India, only 10 million are technology ready, according to a recent Google-KPMG report.
Commenting on funding, Sameer Narula, Managing Partner of ACP, said, “We are excited about Shopmatic’s vision of enabling mass adoption of e-commerce in emerging markets and proud to partner with them as investors. By using the deep data-sets generated on its platform, Shopmatic has the potential to enable SMEs and partners better target their services and products and to accelerate the adoption of e-commerce in these high growth markets. With this round of funding, we believe that the company is perfectly positioned to execute on its regional expansion strategy and help change the way business is done in the region.”
Ted Tan, Deputy Chief Executive of SPRING Singapore and Chairman of SPRING SEEDS Capital, said, “Going forward, e-Commerce will play an even more critical role in omni-channel marketing strategies, to help businesses expand globally. We encourage all SMEs to embrace change and go digital. Technologies like Shopmatic’s web and mobile platforms will help transform the way retailers engage their customers, by offering better shopping experiences.”
Shopmatic widens its horizon of products by listing the offline sellers on marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, Flipkart, Lazada, Qoo10, Rakuten and Zalora and others. The company has also tied up with e-commerce logistics firm Delhivery, Government run Indiapost and global transportation majors like Fedex and Aramex for delivery.
