Southeast Asia’s business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce market was worth US$10.9 billion last year and will grow to US$88.1 billion by 2025, according to research from Google and Temasek. An array of online marketplaces and retailers are competing against each other for a piece of that pie, trying to tempt online shoppers with special offers, loyalty perks, and lower prices than their rivals.
Kuala Lumpur-based iPrice isn’t content with winning just some of that multi-billion-dollar opportunity. It wants every online shopper to pass through one of its price comparison sites before making a purchase.
In the next few years, online shopping will become part of everyday life for everyone in Southeast Asia. Our vision is to be the destination where people start their online shopping.
— David Chmelař, Co-founder and CEO of iPrice Group
That lofty ambition has helped iPrice to secure its first injection of growth capital since its US$4 million series A fundraising in December 2016.
The latest round was led by Line Ventures, the VC arm of the Japanese company behind the messaging app Line. Singapore-based Cento Ventures and Indonesia’s Venturra Capital also participated. The amount of the investment was undisclosed, though TechCrunch has reported the amount at around US$4 million based on a source close to the deal. Naver also joined through a follow-on investment round.