Kilo, a Vietnamese B2B e-commerce platform that connects wholesalers with micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), has received US$5 million in pre-Series A financing.
The round is co-led by California-based Altos Ventures and Australian VC firm January Capital, Techcrunch has reported. Existing investor Goodwater Capital, Ascend Vietnam Ventures, Decisive Capital Management, Ratio Ventures, and other angels participated.
Kilo will use the fresh capital to grow the team and add new features, such as financing, logistics and self-service e-commerce store creation for the MSMEs.
Also read: 3 factors affecting e-commerce trends in Vietnam
Founded in 2020 by e-commerce veteran Narayan Kartick, Kilo is a one-stop-shop supporting local SMEs’ digitalisation with shopping and management tools. It enables them to save costs and reduce risks through optimising inventory turnover, offering a diverse assortment of products, and leveraging transparent pricing.
Kilo also assists shop owners on multiple sales channels, including Kilo’s app, Facebook and Zalo, an instant messaging app with 62 million users in Vietnam.
Before founding Kilo, Kartick held the role of CBO at e-commerce giant Tiki that is eyeing a US IPO, and the former vice president of Seoul-based Coupang, which also made its market debut on the NYSE in March.
Kilo boasts that it has grown the net merchandise value by 320 times since launching in October 2020. As stated on its website, the startup taps into an ~US$180 billion retail consumption space in Vietnam, with small retailers covering 80 per cent of the market.
The e-commerce space is ripe for an explosion in the region, with Vietnam’s TIKI and Indonesia’s GoTo eyeing IPOs while snagging sizable deals earlier this month.
Last week, Vietnam’s B2B e-commerce platform Telio secured US$22.5 million in a pre-Series B round led by VNG Corporation. Last week, Society Pass became the first Vietnamese company to complete a traditional listing on the US stock market.
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Image Credit: Kilo
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