Vietnam-based e-commerce platform Sendo secured $51m in series B funding today from investors including its parent company, IT services provider FPT Group.
Financial services firm SBI Holdings led the round, which included SoftBank Ventures Korea, a subsidiary of telecommunications conglomerate SoftBank, as well as e-commerce company Beenos and payment services provider EContext Asia.
Beenext, a venture capital fund backed by Beenos, also participated in the round alongside Daiwa PI Partners, the private equity arm of investment bank Daiwa Securities Group, and investment firm SKS Ventures.
Formed by IT services provider FPT Group in 2012, Sendo operates an online marketplace it said features more than 300,000 sellers and 10 million products.
The funding will help Sendo launch its business-to-consumer marketplace, SenMall, and drive the growth of its mobile wallet service, SenPay. Beenos will offer expertise and explore tie-ups between Sendo and its own marketplace.
Sendo had previously raised nearly $16.9m in a 2014 series A round that featured SBI, Beenos and EContext Asia.
Daniel Kang, partner and managing director of SoftBank Ventures Korea, said: “Vietnam is at its inflection point, bolstered by rapid GDP growth, young population and willingness to adopt technology.
“Against this backdrop, Vietnam’s e-commerce has strong growth potential and we believe Sendo’s marketplace model will benefit from the environments the most.”