iPrice Group, Southeast Asia’s leading price comparison platform helping online shoppers save money, announced today that it has raised $5 million of additional funding.
The capital was raised from Japan-based firms Itochu Corporation and the KDDI Open Innovation Fund III (operated by Global Brain Corporation).
The additional funding will bolster iPrice’s role in finding shoppers the best deals as Southeast Asia’s e-commerce market becomes increasingly difficult to navigate.
A Facebook and Bain & Company report indicates that in 2021, the number of platforms used by SEA digital consumers has steadily risen to 7.9 websites per user on average, nearly 52% more than in 2020.
This trend creates a reinforced need for a curated catalogue to provide transparency across platforms and help users save money among multiple marketplaces. iPrice addresses this need by aggregating the best offers from more than 7 billion products and 8 million sellers on a single platform.
Besides comparing products, prices, sellers’ reputations, and delivery conditions, we are continually deepening our expertise to help shoppers in various ways — be it aggregating seller vouchers, creating an app that alerts users of their desired products’ price drops, or finding the cheapest loans to fund their purchases.
— Paul Brown-Kenyon, CEO of iPrice Group
As the newest addition, iPrice recently launched a Price Watch service allowing users in Indonesia to receive alerts of their desired products’ price drops directly at the iPrice App. The service will continue to roll out in Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand throughout 2022.
With the new funding, iPrice will expand its services to the lending market by helping users find not only the best e-commerce offering but also the best consumer loans to fund their purchases. A Google report predicts that digital lending will hit $92 billion in transactions by 2025 due to its current acceleration in Southeast Asia, and the leading comparison platform intends to meet consumer demand.
That said, iPrice is excited to welcome Itochu as part of the capitalization table. Although known for its trading operations, Itochu has vast experience in the area of lending and operates a lending business in Indonesia under the brand Payku.
We’re very excited that we can leverage our investors’ extensive lending experience. The first step in our strategic cooperation will be adding Itochu’s subsidiary, Payku, as a key lending partner in Indonesia. Their expertise will be vital as we further penetrate the lending market.
— Paul Brown-Kenyon, CEO of iPrice Group
Aside from Payku, iPrice’s other lending partners include Home Credit (Indonesia), Julo (Indonesia), Cashalo (Philippines), Smartpay (Vietnam), and ZIP (Singapore, launching in H1 2022).
iPrice Group is Southeast Asia’s leading online shopping companion, operating in seven countries across Southeast Asia namely Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, and Hong Kong.
Originally published by Newswire.