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Want to get the latest neighborhood gossip? Head to your nearest mom and pop store. Mine was the place I had hated the most when I was young because my mom would spend hours chatting there. But now, it’s one of my favorite spots for hanging out to get genuine human connection (plus inside deets on my neighbors). So there’s a sort of melancholy in watching ecommerce preparing to take over these mom-and-pop stores – and Vietnam, in particular, is seeing a growing number of B2B startups targeting them.
Today we look at:
- The B2B ecommerce race in Vietnam
- Travel startup Klook banking US$200 million
- Other newsy highlights such as Masayoshi Son stepping back from SoftBank Corp., and Grab choosing the banks for its IPO
PREMIUM SUMMARY
The future of mom-and-pop shops
Yep, ecommerce is booming in Vietnam, but it accounts for only 1% of the sales of FMCG products. A large chunk of the population still buy these essential goods from mom-and-pop stores and wet markets, and pay for them with cash.
To digitize these corner stores, startups are springing up all over the country – and investors are getting interested.
- Young but mighty backers: Telio is one such B2B ecommerce startup, which raised US$25 million in a series A round from GGV Capital, Tiger Global Management, and Sequoia India last year. The platform helps mom-and-pop stores buy directly from brands, manufacturers, and distributors.
- Big and bigger: Similar to Telio, its rival VinShop allows small shop owners to buy goods directly from manufacturers. But that’s where the similarities end: Unlike Telio, VinShop is part of Vietnam’s biggest conglomerate Vingroup, and has a lot of cash and resources at its disposal.
- More and more: While Telio and VinShop are the B2B ecommerce leaders currently, the competition is heating up as many new players are entering the market, targeting different niches in the country. Grab is one of them – the Southeast Asian super app recently brought Vietnam’s wet market merchants onto GrabMart in September last year.
Read more: A David vs. Goliath battle in Vietnam’s B2B ecommerce sector
STARTUP SPOTLIGHT
More money for traveling
Having a beer in Bali sounds like a distant dream these days. But while we aren’t able to travel yet, travel startups are still banking big bucks. Case in point: Hong Kong-based travel firm Klook has recently raised US$200 million in a series E round led by Aspex Management.
How to negotiate term sheets with a VC
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