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Vietnam's first industrial-focused B2B e-commerce marketplace startup raises $670k

Khanh Minh Thursday | 10/14/2021 09:10

Founders of EI Industrial.

EI Industrial, the first industrial-focused B2B marketplace in Vietnam has announced a $670k seed financing round led by early-stage venture capital firm Cocoon Capital with participation from BEENEXT.

The platform enables purchasers to easily source from multiple suppliers and identify the best deals available. The marketplace is free to use for all suppliers, empowering them to digitise and maximise their reach to customers across Vietnam. EI Industrial ensures that there is a proper audit trail for both parties.

The funds will be used to invest in its to build a faster and more user-friendly platform and expand the sales, marketing and technology teams to drive rapid growth, according to a statement from the company.

EI Industrial currently serves over 500 customers in Vietnam, including global companies such as the Esquel Group, Heineken, Toshiba, Olam, Aqua, Oishi, Wahl and Central Group.

The company also works with over 300 sellers to meet the growing procurement demands, including Schneider Electric, Bosch, Honeywell and 3M. The company is onboarding hundreds of new sellers for the 20 categories listed on its marketplace and aims to support one million SKUs by the end of 2021.

Vietnam's B2B e-commerce market has the highest growth rate in Southeast Asia, reaching $13.2 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 43 percent by 2025. COVID-19 has heavily impacted global supply chains and has accelerated the digital transformation in the way businesses procure goods. Over 98% of companies are SMEs with a growing need to find trustworthy suppliers to meet their demands.

"Vietnam is one of the fastest-growing economies in the World in recent years, and SMEs are the backbone of the economy. My co-founders and I established EI Industrial to realise our dream of developing Vietnam's core industries via technology. EI Industrial now supports businesses and sellers in improving both their productivity and profit margins", said Anthony Ho Phi An, Founder & CEO of EI Industrial.

"The market has been waiting for such a solution with Vietnam's rapid development and EI Industrial addresses a clear need. We have been inspired by Anthony, Sophie and Trung's passion, determination and ability to build a platform that is helping to digitise Vietnam's businesses. The team is exceptionally driven and we are proud to be an investor and partner in their journey", said Michael Blakey, Managing Partner at Cocoon Capital. Blakey recently joined the EI Industrial board of directors.

Launched in 2020, EI Industrial is a B2B e-commerce marketplace that aims to accelerate digital procurement in Vietnam. Vietnamese businesses suffer from manual and inefficient processes resulting in wasted time and higher costs for both purchasers and suppliers when procuring goods. Additionally, purchasers cannot quickly source for products due to the lack of price visibility and transparency. As a result, one order can take up to two weeks to complete.

Cocoon Capital is a Singapore-based venture capital firm focusing on early-stage, enterprise tech companies across Southeast Asia with assets under management of more than SGD 70m. The fund invests within the medtech, fintech, insurtech, and other deep tech verticals. It has done a total of 23 investments till date.

BEENEXT is a Venture Capital fund managed by serial entrepreneurs that focuses on assisting founders with their operational experience, network, trust, unique perspectives, and capital. The team invests in early-stage tech start-ups that are focused on building the new digital platforms driven by the data network.

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