Ecommerce site Qoo10 locks up $82M in series A funding

Qoo10, an ecommerce site operating all across Asia, announced today that it raised an US$82.1 million series A funding round led by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH). Other investors in the round include eBay, Saban Capital Group, UVM 2 Venture Investments LP, Brookside Capital, and Oak Investment Partners.

Qoo10’s parent company Giosis plans to allocate the new funds to technology and services development, while also investing in additional infrastructure and talent. As the lead investor, SPH also wants to position itself as a strategic partner for Qoo10. Without getting too specific, the company says it will help Qoo10 with things like content, advertising, classifieds strategies, and other opportunities.

“Qoo10 is the number one ranked ecommerce website in Singapore and its parent company Giosis has established itself as a market leader in the region’s ecommerce space,” says Alan Chan, CEO of SPH. “The investment in Qoo10 will enhance our portfolio of digital assets and open up opportunities for future marketing collaborations.” While many Singaporeans may agree with Chan, the case for the number one ecommerce portal in Singapore could also be argued for other sites like Amazon and Taobao.

Qoo10’s website in Indoneisa

Qoo10 has a long history. The ecommerce giant is the result of a joint venture between eBay and Ku Young Bae, the founder of Gmarket. which was established in 2000. Qoo10 came to life in 2010 with US$20 million seed capital, after Gmarket was acquired by eBay in 2009 for US$1.2 billion. The brand Gmarket still operates in Korea.

See Gmarket Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, and Indonesia to Rebrand to Qoo10

Qoo10 operates its ecommerce marketplace in Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and China. The firm claims to have 17.6 million registered users across the region, with a combined total of US$408 million in gross merchandise value (GMV) in 2014. Although Qoo10 is a pan-Asian player, compared to Southeast Asian ecommerce giant Lazada Group, which operates in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines, that amount is still modest. Last year Lazada recorded around US$1 billion in gross merchandise value with only 5.3 million users at the end of Q1 2015.

See: Lazada Group’s Magnus Ekbom says “bring it on” in Indonesia

Out of the six marketplaces Qoo10 runs, the site in Singapore is the strongest performer. It recorded 1.8 million registered users as of June 2015, and US$182 million in GMV at the end of last year, the company said in a statement.

Apart from strengthening its position in the company’s core markets of Singapore, Japan, and Indonesia, Qoo10 also hopes to accelerate expansion in other markets like Malaysia, Hong Kong, and China.

SPH has recently made other notable startup investments and acquisitions in the region, for example in restaurant booking site Chope and car classifieds site SgCarMart.