Ecommerce aggregator iPrice scores fresh funding in Line-led round

Portfolio Stories

May 7, 2018

Ecommerce aggregator iPrice scores fresh funding in Line-led round

Southeast Asia’s business-to-consumer (B2C) ecommerce market was worth US$10.9 billion last year, and will grow to US$88.1 billion by 2025, according to research from Google and Temasek. An array of online marketplaces and retailers are competing against each other for a piece of that pie, trying to tempt online shoppers with special offers, loyalty perks, and lower prices than their rivals.

Kuala Lumpur-based iPrice isn’t content with winning just some of that multi-billion-dollar opportunity. It wants every online shopper to pass through one of its price comparison sites before making a purchase.

“In the next few years, online shopping will become part of everyday life for everyone in Southeast Asia,” said iPrice group CEO David Chmelař. “Our vision is to be the destination where people start their online shopping.”

That lofty ambition has helped iPrice to secure its first injection of growth capital since its US$4 million series A fundraise in December 2016.

The latest round was led by Line Ventures, the VC arm of the Japanese company behind the messaging app Line. Singapore-based Cento Ventures and Indonesia’s Venturra Capital also participated. The amount of the investment was undisclosed, though TechCrunch has reported the amount at around US$4 million based on a source close to the deal. Naver also joined through a follow-on investment round.