ShopUp, a startup that is digitizing neighborhood stores in Bangladesh, has raised $75 million in a new financing round that is also the largest in the South Asian market.
Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures led ShopUp’s $75 million Series B round. Prosus Ventures, as well as existing investors Flourish Ventures, Sequoia Capital India, and VEON Ventures, also invested in the round. The new investment, which brings the startup’s all-time raise to over $100 million, is also Valar’s and Prosus’ first deals in Bangladesh, home to over 100 million internet users.
Like its neighboring nation, India, more than 95% of all retail in Bangladesh goes through neighborhood stores. There are about 4.5 million mom-and-pop stores in the country, and the vast majority of them have no digital presence.
As is the case in India, Pakistan and several other Asian countries, these small shops face a number of challenges in Bangladesh. They don’t have access to a large catalog for inventory selection and they can’t negotiate good pricing and faster delivery. And for these small retailers, more than two-thirds of all their sales are still processed on credit instead of cash or digital payments, creating a massive liquidity crunch.
ShopUp is attempting to address these challenges. It has built what it calls a full-stack business-to-business commerce platform. The startup provides a number of core services to these stores, including a wholesale marketplace to secure inventory, logistics (including...
Read Full Story: https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/06/commerce-platform-shopup-raises-75-million-led-by-valar-in-bangladeshs-largest-funding/
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