Singapore-based mobile marketplace app provider Carousell has closed a $35m series B round led by Rakuten Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of e-commerce company Rakuten, TechCrunch reported yesterday.
Venture capital firms Sequoia Capital, Golden Gate Ventures and 500 Startups also contributed to the round.
Founded in 2012, Carousell operates a mobile classifieds app through which users can sell and buy items. The app includes a chat feature that enables sellers and buyers to connect with each other to arrange details of the sale and payment.
The company claims to list some 35 million items on its app with another 70 added each minute. It currently operates in a total of 12 cities across Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia.
The funding will help Carousell expand into additional markets, including some outside Southeast Asia, develop its product further and drive recruitment.
Saemin Ahn, managing partner of Rakuten Ventures, said: “When RV (Rakuten Ventures) first invested in Carousell, it was a scrappy and hungry group of founders determined to change the way people transact with one another in the 21st century. We now see their vision and this want for interaction shared by vast groups of people not only in Singapore but also in countries like Indonesia, Taiwan and Hong Kong.”
Rakuten Ventures previously supported a $6m series A round led by Sequoia in 2014 that included Golden Gate, 500 Startups and angel investor Darius Cheung. Rakuten Ventures led Carousell’s $800,000 seed round in 2013 with participation from Golden Gate, 500 Startups and Cheung.
Rakuten operates a competitor to Carousell dubbed Rakuma. Siu Rui Quek, chief executive and co-founder of Carousell, previously commented on this situation by stating: “We did not know about the launch of Rakuma.
“Rakuten is an investor through their venture capital arm. Rakuten Ventures’ investment in Carousell is non-strategic in nature. We operate independently and are not aware of their strategic plans.”