Vietnamese ecommerce startup Telio snaps up $25m in series A round

Telio, a business-to-business ecommerce platform in Vietnam, announced today it has raised US$25 million in a series A funding round led by Tiger Global, with participation from Sequoia India, GGV Capital, and RTP Global.

Photo credit: Telio

Founded in 2018, Telio connects small retailers with brands and wholesalers. Its app allows retailers to find, select, and order products from a range of brands and distributors. The startup is also building a network of warehouses to ensure next-day delivery, according to a statement.

“Our mission is to empower the large population of small retailers in Vietnam, who play an important role in our economy and the local neighborhoods they serve. The inventory supply chain in our country is very fragmented, and these small retailers don’t have a clear view of pricing, quality, and even availability of most products,” Bui SyPhong, Telio’s founder and CEO, said.

Vietnam’s large retail landscape is still dominated by traditional, fragmented trade channels. Small mom and pop street shops account for over 60% of FMCG sales in urban areas and over 90% in rural Vietnam, according to Kantar.

Telio will use the new capital to establish its presence in four more cities in Vietnam, onboard 15,000 retailers to its platform by June 2020, and expand to more categories beyond FMCG.

The company claims that its sales are growing 70% month on month, serving over 3,000 retailers in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

In April, the startup closed a seed round with Surge, a program launched by Sequoia India earlier this year to support startups in India and Southeast Asia. Telio was one of the 17 companies that formed the program’s inaugural cohort.