E-commerce firm Alibaba led a $1.1bn round for Indonesia-based e-commerce platform Tokopedia yesterday.
The round included undisclosed existing investors, the company said, and although they were not named, reports last month suggested telecommunications and internet group SoftBank and venture capital firm Sequoia Capital would both take part in the round.
Tokopedia runs an online marketplace where online merchants and local brands sell a range of consumer products spanning categories such as fashion, software, electronics, cars and lifestyle products.
The platform also provides digital goods and services such as online ticketing, bill payment, gift cards and in-game vouchers. Tokopedia claims, citing information from digital intelligence provider SimilarWeb, to be the most visited domestic website in Indonesia.
Tokopedia’s platform is fairly similar to Taobao, Alibaba’s online mall, and Alibaba will provide assistance to the company as it looks to expand in Southeast Asia and improve the quality of its offering.
SoftBank and Sequoia had previously invested $100m in Tokopedia in 2014, the latter participating in the round through subsidiaries Softbank Internet and Media and SB Pan Asia Fund. A source told Tech in Asia in April 2016 the company had raised another $147m but it has not confirmed that report.
CyberAgent Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of internet company CyberAgent, supplied an undisclosed amount of funding for Tokopedia across rounds in 2011 and 2013. E-commerce company Beenos, financial services firm SBI and East Ventures are also past investors.
Alibaba had previously paid $2bn to acquire an 83% stake in Singapore-based online marketplace Lazada across investments in April 2016 and June 2017. It also took part in the $50m series B round closed by Southeast Asia-focused price comparison platform CompareAsiaGroup last month.