ShopUp is a Bangladesh-based startup, a B2B platform for online retailers and seller shops. Recently, the commerce platform has raised $22.5 million fund in Series A funding round which was led by two well-known investors- Flourish Ventures and Sequoia Capital. This funding has become Bangladesh’s biggest Series A round ever with participation from Speedinvest, Lonsdale Capital, VEON Ventures etc.
ShopUp has opened its office in Bangalore as well to diversify its network and make use of India’s talented and hardworking people. Another highlight of the Bangladesh-based business is that another e-commerce business- Voonik joined hands with ShopUp and both of these companies are merged together. Founders of Voonik will now represent ShopUp as co-founders. This information was shared by Afeef Zaman who us the CEO and Co-founder of ShopUp.
Besides, Afeef Zaman also mentions his intentions with this newly acquired funding. He states that he always believed that this decade will be about digital transitioning and small businesses in Bangladesh would be inclining towards digital platforms for their operations and sale. ShopUp was launched to be the key driver of this change. COVID-19 pandemic and the following lockdown boosted this transitioning and small businesses and sellers were finding grounds on the Internet to continue and expand their business operations.
He further added that this new fund will be used in increasing ShopUp’s retail reach and in strengthening partnerships with manufacturers and vendors. The company also aims to build tech-first infrastructure.
What is ShopUp?
ShopUp deals directly with Business to Business operations to assist small businesses to have easy access to B2B sourcing, provides digital credit, business management solutions, detailed last-mile logistics and much more. All of these services help the round-the-corner retail sellers to make twice the profit with less than half the effort. This allows the customers to focus on customer interactions and networking which are equally important tasks when it comes to business.
ShopUp serves as a complete digital transformation package for small sellers in Bangladesh which allows several merchants to grow their business with this expanded reach and high-quality service. Klaus Wang- Senior Vice-President, Sequoia Capital mentioned in a press statement that it has been a consistent supporter of ShopUp since early 2019 and it gives him immense pleasure to support and witness the growth of the company, becoming a digital transformation platform for small merchants in Bangladesh.
In Bangladesh, because of the COVID-19 situation, many businesses were shut and small merchants moved to digital platforms to sell their products and reach out to new customers. Facebook is a very reliable source for such businesses but there is a massive long-trail demand for last-mile logistics which can be efficiently provided by RedX- ShopUp’s last-mile logistics service.
This was the first investment made by Sequoia Capital in Bangladesh and ShopUp can now accomplish its mission of expanding customer reach and providing digital transformations to small merchants, with more efficiency and effectiveness.
