Ensogo to shut all Southeast Asian marketplaces, lay off staff

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Ensogo’s already disappointing year has taken a turn for the worse. Today it announced it’s shutting down all business units in Southeast Asia and laying off staff.

“Ensogo Australia […] will no longer provide financial support to its subsidiary Southeast Asian flash sales and marketplace business units. These business units will be shut down. All staff have been informed and communications will be made to customers in the coming days,” it said in a statement sent to Tech in Asia.

The company’s co-founder Kris Marszalek has also quit his CEO post.

“This decisions have been made to preserve the company’s cash for new investment opportunities,” Ensogo continued.

The company, which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, made the same announcements to the bourse. It asked for its stock to be placed under voluntary trading suspension immediately to stem further selloffs. (Click here and here for the company’s disclosures.) Trading in the stock was halted on June 17 pending the announcements and was due to resume today.

Formerly known as iBuy, Ensogo owns a network of ecommerce websites in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand. It is owned by Catcha Group of Patrick Grove, who also established online businesses iProperty, iCar, and iFlix.

Catcha Group CEO Patrick Grove talks about iFlix, Ensogo, and other businesses at Tech in Asia Singapore 2016.

Today’s announcement is the latest in a string of bad news for the company, which has been struggling to shake off its past.

Ensogo launched as a daily deals website around 2010, was acquired by US-based LivingSocial in 2011, and sold to Catcha Group’s iBuy in 2014. In late 2015, it began to transition to what it called a “game-changing” shift for the business – a mobile marketplace.

Ensogo’s main rival is Lazada, which is now owned by Alibaba.

Daily deals are a type of online sales that LivingSocial’s arch rival Groupon popularized but eventually fizzled out. The relaunched Ensogo and its marketplace formed part of its effort to transform into a full-blown ecommerce company focusing on product retailing – much like Alibaba’s Taobao.

In Southeast Asia, Ensogo’s main rival is Lazada, which is now owned by – guess who – Alibaba.