Sendo says merger not a ‘must-have,’ looks to start series D fundraising

Vietnamese ecommerce marketplace Sendo said it’s looking to start raising series D funds to capitalize on the country’s fast-growing ecommerce sector, adding that a consolidation is not a “must-have” at this point, its chief financial officer JJ Ang told Tech in Asia.

Sendo CFO JJ Ang /Photo credit: Sendo

“Sendo is definitely a believer in industry consolidation but under the right circumstances and the right terms,” Ang said. “There needs to be a very strong alignment on business values as well as execution strategies. Like Indonesia and even Singapore, Vietnam market is significant and large enough to accommodate several key ecommerce players.”

Alongside Tiki, Sendo is one of the top-funded homegrown ecommerce players in Vietnam, raising a total of US$112 million to date. The ecommerce firm, a spin-off from Vietnamese IT company FPT Corporation, tries to differentiate itself by tapping consumers beyond Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Rumors about its potential merger with domestic rival Tiki have been circulating this year, but the talks reportedly fell through, DealStreetAsia recently reported. Tech in Asia also dived deep into how a potential deal between the two local powerhouses could shake up Vietnam’s US$35 billion ecommerce sector.

Ang, however, believes that Sendo’s performance metrics – such as organic traffic, conversion rate, and users’ purchase frequency – are very sustainable and “favorable compared with other competitors,” but declined to elaborate further.

He argues that Sendo can play to its home advantage of being able to leverage the consumer-to-consumer model very early on, but acknowledges fierce competition in Vietnam from the likes of Shopee and Lazada.

According to Ang, Sendo’s existing investors also put in more money in an extended series C round this March, following its US$61 million series C raise announced in November 2019. He also said the company is looking for long-term investors who can add strategic values in areas such as ecommerce retail or fintech.

Ang said Sendo can hit profitability in the next two or three years. When asked about a potential exit for new investors, he said that “can also be in the form of an IPO in the coming years.”

Sendo claims that it has more than 500,000 sellers on its platform and serves 12 million customers across all of Vietnam’s 63 provinces.