Tiki, a Vietnam-based e-commerce platform backed by corporates CyberAgent, JD.com, Sumitomo and VNG, has raised $100m in series E funding, DealStreetAsia has reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
An undisclosed strategic investor led the tranche, which represents the first close of the series E round. It included new backers and a similarly unnamed existing shareholder, the latter reportedly working on internal approval for follow-on funding.
Founded in 2010, Tiki is the operator of a business-to-customer retail marketplace which offers delivery within two hours of an order. It has a 111% refund policy in place if the customers receive counterfeit goods.
The company is set to raise another $100m in a second tranche over the coming months, according to one of the sources. The lead investor is reportedly likely to announce a partnership with Tiki next week that will entail it providing financial services in the domestic market.
The source told DealStreetAsia: “The funding will help push Tiki’s [gross merchandise value] growth, which stood at 50% year-on-year in 2021.”
Tiki was last valued at roughly $600m when it sold $43m in corporate bonds between March and June this year. It had received $130m in a June 2020 round led by private equity firm Northstar Group, which invested alongside unspecified returning backers and an unnamed Asia-based individual.
The company had arranged a merger with peer Sendo in May the same year, only to cancel it in July due to shareholder disagreements and disruptions caused by the covid-19 pandemic.
Northstar led a $100m round for Tiki in mid-2019 that also featured returning investors including Korea Investment Partners, STIC Investments and Sparklabs Ventures. Internet group VNG and e-commerce firm JD.com had invested $44m in 2018, following $16.7m in funding from VNG in 2016.
Conglomerate Sumitomo took part in a round for the company sized between $1m and $2m in 2013, after CyberAgent Capital, the subsidiary of internet company CyberAgent then called CyberAgent Ventures, provided an undisclosed amount the year before. Seedcom and EDBI are also among its shareholders.
