DutyCast co-founders at the signing ceremony
DutyCast, the creator of a browser extension that helps consumers buy online globally with ease, has scored undisclosed funding from Vietnam-based VinaCapital Ventures.
It is not clear how DutyCast is going to utilise the capital. We are contacting the startup for more details and will update this news story accordingly.
Founded in 2020 by four Vietnamese, DutyCast aims to improve the cross-border e-commerce experience for shoppers by providing transparency and security around final prices, duties, taxes, and related logistics expenses.
As stated on the company’s website, the startup ensures “no hidden fees or surprise charges” for customers.
After adding DutyCast extension to the browser, users can then shop and put products of multiple stores in one single Dutycast cart, checkout once, and pay in local currency with a credit/debit card, bank transfer or cash on delivery (COD).
Also read: 3 reasons why SEA’s e-commerce sector is set to explode
“Anyone living here or in other countries knows how difficult and sometimes frustrating it can be to order from online retailers based overseas. Dutycast provides a straightforward solution to that,” said Trung Hoang, partner at VinaCapital Ventures.
He believes that the DutyCast solution can scale beyond Vietnam and said that the VC would assist DutyCast in realising this international ambition.
DutyCast supports customers to shop at several sites, including Amazon, iHerb, Sephora, ASOS and Ulta Beauty. The startup claims it is expanding its global partner network to more than 1,000 stores with the likes of Victoria’s Secret, Nike, and Bath&Body Works.
In 2020, Vietnam’s e-commerce market reached US$11.8 billion, which accounted for 5.5 per cent of the total retail sales in the country, as per a report released by Vietnam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency, Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
According to Facebook and Bain & Company’s annual Southeast Asia report, Vietnam’s e-commerce sales is forecast to upsurge from an estimated US$12 billion in 2021 to US$56 billion in 2026, ranking only after Indonesia.
This growth rides on the tailwinds of the young and digital-savvy population and a widening middle class of the country.
The post Dutycast gets VinaCapital backing for its browser extension that helps consumers buy online globally with ease appeared first on e27.