SE Asia online retailer Lazada gets $250m in funding from Tesco, others
Rocket Internet’s Southeast Asian online shopping mall, Lazada, has raised a $250 million round of funding from Tesco, Access Industries, and return backers Investment AB Kinnevik and Verlinvest.
Launched in March 2012, Lazada operates in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. It claims to be the region's leading online general merchandiser, offering consumer electronics, household goods, toys, fashion and sports equipment.
The company has so far raised $486 million, including $100 million in June and $136 million last year.
This is the first investment by retailer Tesco into a pure online player in the region and continues its strategy of developing leading multichannel businesses in core growth markets.
"As Southeast Asia's 600 million consumers begin to use smart phone technology to access retailers online, Lazada has established a strong position from which to grow," Robin Terrell, group multichannel director of Tesco, said in a statement.
The British retailer provides online shopping in most of its nine non-domestic markets, including Thailand and Malaysia, but last week reported declining sales in all its markets.
The Lazada partnership will span customer analytics, private label development and supply chain management. In August Lazada added a marketplace for third-party merchants to increase assortment and allow suppliers to take advantage of Lazada's traffic volumes. This could allow Tesco to offer products in markets where it does not yet have a presence.
In November, Lazada launched a C2C marketplace called Lamido in Indonesia and Vietnam, with which it shares logistics, operations, and other technical infrastructure. The website is aimed at small and medium-sized sellers, including "thousands of shops on social networks such as Facebook."
Access Industries also invested in another Rocket Southeast Asian venture in December, taking part in a $112 million round for Zalora. Investment AB Kinnevik and Verlinvest took stakes in Zalora in a $100 million round in May.
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