Bangladesh-based business-to-business (B2B) trading platform ShopUp, which merged with Bangalore-based online fashion retailer voonik in February 2020, has raised $ 75 million in a Series funding round B led by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, said Tuesday.
The company has now cumulatively raised more than $ 110 million.
The round, which also featured the participation of Prosus Ventures along with existing investors Flourish Ventures, Sequoia Capital India and VEON Ventures, marks the first investment of Valar Ventures and Prosus Ventures in Bangladesh.
The Dhaka-based startup now connects small retailers and store owners with large manufacturers and distributors to help them source products. It also offers Mokam, which is its B2B eCommerce application.
It has two other products, RedX, which is a logistics arm, and Baki, a buy-now product, pay later for small retailers.
In 2020, ShopUp established a presence in India, merging with Voonik Technologies B2B business and technology platform, backed by Sequoia.
Voonik founders Sujayath Ali and Navaneetha Krishnan had joined ShopUp as founders after the merger.
ShopUp opened an office in Bangalore last year, with much of its engineering and technological talent based in India.
ShopUp has seen more than 13-fold growth in revenue and 11-fold growth in the number of total shipments, he said.
“They became clear market leaders with double-digit growth in three products created for underserved small businesses in Bangladesh. In fast-growing border economies like Bangladesh, small businesses are the main engine of the economy,” said James Fitzgerald, founding partner of Valar Ventures.
ShopUp competes with well-funded B2B companies like Udaan, which has a network of more than 25,000 sellers, connecting them with 3 million users in 900 cities.
India has more than 15 million small manufacturers and more than 30 million traders, retailers and service companies.
Founded in 2013, Voonik Technologies had raked in about $ 47 million from investors since its inception, according to data intelligence platform VCCEdge.
