- Premium Content It takes our newsroom weeks - if not months - to investigate and produce stories for our premium content. You can’t find them anywhere else.
Thu Huong Le · · 2 min readLazada gets $378m boost from Alibaba, filings show
Southeast Asian ecommerce major Lazada has gotten another US$378 million boost in funding from Alibaba, according to filings with Singapore’s Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority.
The capital is provided in the form of new shares issued by Lazada to Alibaba Group’s Singapore-based entity.
Photo credit: Lazada Group
This development was first reported by DealStreetAsia earlier today. Tech in Asia has reached out to Lazada for comment.
Tech in Asia previously calculated that Alibaba injected about US$4.4 billion into Lazada between 2018 and 2020. While a significant sum, it still trailed behind Shopee’s US$6.6 billion war chest in the same period.
This latest capital injection, however, comes as Lazada is reportedly eyeing Europe for its first major expansion.
As we reported in late April, Jiang Fan – who heads Alibaba’s international digital commerce businesses (which include Lazada, AliExpress, and Alibaba.com) – was in Singapore last month to discuss how to better use its overseas assets.
Industry analysts have suggested that potential markets for Lazada in Europe would be those where AliExpress – Alibaba’s international B2C cross-border platform – operates. In 2021, Spain and France were among AliExpress’ top five markets worldwide by active users, according to third-party industry estimates.
See also: Lazada eyes Europe in first expansion beyond SEA
The European expansion may help Lazada, which celebrated its 10th year anniversary in March, build momentum for a potential IPO as a standalone company. Our previous analysis shows that a spun-off Lazada should attract a valuation higher than Alibaba’s 2.1x revenue.
See also: Why Alibaba should spin off Lazada
A multiple equivalent to Sea’s 6.1x, meanwhile, would unlock significant value for Alibaba and its shareholders.
Alibaba had also revealed that its Southeast Asian ecommerce operations clocked in US$21 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) during the one-year period ending September 2021.
Stay ahead in Asia’s tech landscape
This is premium content. Subscribe to read the full story.
The capital is under the form of new shares issued by Lazada to the Singapore-based entity of Alibaba Group.
We know this is not ideal. ⌛ Sign up in 20 seconds. Cancel anytime.
Our subscriber community includes professionals from these companies:
Stay updated on the go with our mobile app.
Get latest insights with smoother, more personalized experience through TIA mobile app.
