Ebay, a US-based online auctioneer, has agreed to buy a 20% stake in PeaceSoft, a Vietnam-based e-commerce company that operates the ChoDienTu site, three years after agreeing its first partnership. Local news providers said the stake was worth $2m.
In June 2008, PeaceSoft partnered with the US firm to create eBay.vn, the only site which allows Vietnamese to buy and sell merchandise overseas by interacting directly with the 225 million eBay users worldwide.
Peacesoft’s first institutional funding came from IDG Ventures Vietnam, the local corporate venturing subsidiary of US-based publisher International Data Group, before Japan-based internet conglomerate Softbank acquired 35% a year later.