Thailand-based e-commerce service and logistics provider aCommerce has attracted more than $10m in a round backed by diversified conglomerate Sinar Mas and expansion services provider DKSH, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
Emerald Media, a media and entertainment-focused investment partnership formed by over-the-top media holding company Chernin Group and investment firm KKR, also participated in the round, along with Blue Sky Ventures and unnamed existing backers. Sinar Mas took part through an undisclosed subsidiary.
Founded in 2013, aCommerce supplies consumer e-commerce brands with marketing, supply chain and distribution services across multiple markets in Southeast Asia.
Clients can utilise the company’s platform to create an online storefront, build digital marketing campaigns and settle on an approach to customer service. It operates in Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, and reported a 73% increase in annual revenue for its home market in 2018.
Money from the latest round will support aCommerce’s growth plans as it looks to achieve profitability by early 2020, ahead of a possible initial piublic offering expected to take place within the next two or three years, according to chief executive Paul Srivorakul.
The IPO could potentially take place in Thailand, Singapore or Australia. The company also plans to seek $5m in a private equity placement later this year.
Emerald Media led aCommerce’s $65m series B round in 2017, investing with DKSH and MDI Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of telecommunications firm Telkom Indonesia. Blue Sky Ventures also took part, after joining MDI Ventures and DKSH to supply aCommerce with $10m in July 2016.
DKSH had reportedly invested between $20m and $25m in aCommerce the previous December according to TechCrunch, after it raised $5m from existing investors including Sinar Mas, Ardent Capital and Inspire Ventures a few months earlier.
Inspire Ventures led a $10.7m series A round for the company in 2014 that featured Sinar Mas and CyberAgent Ventures, a subsidiary of internet company CyberAgent, along with mobile network operator NTT Docomo, conglomerate Sumitomo, digital consultancy Asia Pacific Digital and hedge fund manager JL Capital.
Ardent Capital, the venture capital firm and company builder that was aCommerce’s founding investor, arranged the series A round, which came in the wake of $3.1m from NTT Docomo and CyberAgent in 2013.