Giosis, the Singapore-based parent company of e-commerce platform Qoo10, raised $82.1m yesterday in a series A round led by media group Singapore Press Holdings (SPH).
The round also featured e-commerce company eBay, private equity firm Oak Investment Partners, investment firm Saban Capital Group, UVM 2 Venture Investments and Brookside Capital, which acts as an equity affiliate of private equity firm Bain Capital.
Giosis was founded in 2010 with $20m of seed money as a joint venture between eBay and Ku Young Bae, the founder of Gmarket, the Korea-based online marketplace eBay bought for $1.2bn in 2009. It runs six e-commerce marketplaces under the Qoo10 brand name across Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, China and Hong Kong.
The sites collectively have 17.6 million registered users, and Giosis plans to spend the funding on expanding Qoo10’s team and technology base, strengthening its infrastructure and growing in the Malaysia, Hong Kong and China markets.
In addition to its investment, SPH intends to partner with Qoo10 to explore promotion, retail and classified listings opportunities.
Alan Chan, CEO of Singapore Press Holdings, said: “Qoo10 is the number one ranked ecommerce website in Singapore and its parent company Giosis has established itself as a market leader in the region’s ecommerce space.
“The investment in Qoo10 will enhance our portfolio of digital assets and open up opportunities for future marketing collaborations.”