Vietnam one-hour delivery e-commerce startup Loship announced on Wednesday a $12 million pre-Series C funding round co-led by Ant Group-backed venture capital firm BAce Capital and the direct investment unit of Sun Hung Kai & Co Ltd (SHK & Co), an alternative investment company listed in Hong Kong.
Other investors participating in the round include MetaPlanet Holdings, a Skype Co-founder backed VC firm in Estonia, Saudi Arabia’s Wealth Well, Singapore’s Prism Ventures, Hong Kong-based SQ Capital Group (SCCG Ventures Asia).
Other individual investors include Sartbucks former Vice President Mojtaba Akhbari, FNZ Group Chief Executive Officer (APAC) Tim Neville, BNP Paribas Director (Global Macro Sales) Ben Fitzpatrick, DASS-Inc Founder and CEO Wayne Cowden, EC1 Partners Managing Director Simon Eglise, Ilwella Pty Ltd Director Quentin Flannery, Prenzler Group Director Jonathon Feil, and iVS CEO Milan Reinartz.
“We have a very clear path to profitability as well as strategic plans on how to get there. Next on our agenda is to bring Loship services to customers living in all parts of Vietnam, especially the lower-tier markets. We will also use the funding to drive forward instant commerce, delivery under one hour,” Loship Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Trung Hoang Nguyen said in a statement.
The funding round comes on the heels of Loship’s undisclosed bridge funding round in February 2021 led by Skype co-founder-backed MetaPlanet Holdings.
Loship said the latest influx of funding will be used to deepen the company’s presence in key markets, pave the way for business expansion into new regions, and fuel its latest growth area — B2B delivery offering for small F&B businesses and mom-and-pop shops.
This funding round also adds Benny Chen, Founder of BAce Capital as the new Board of Directors of Loship, who was on the board of Zomato and Paytm.
“Under Trung’s entrepreneurship and leadership, we saw the company get much stronger during pandemic by constantly bringing product and service innovation to its merchants and users,” said Chen, who is also the Managing Director of BAce Capital.
“As part of our ongoing private investments strategy, SHK & Co is excited to partner with BAce to co-lead an investment round into Loship. We believe that Vietnam possesses great long-term potential as a market, and we are keen to support entrepreneurs like Trung and his team to build innovative businesses that thoughtfully address local needs,” added SHK & Co Co-Head Private Equity Lincoln Yeh.
Loship marks a Vietnam foray for both of the lead investors BAce Capital and SHK & Co, as part of their strategies to capture the emerging market opportunities in Southeast Asia.
Loship’s other investors include Smilegate Investment, Hana Financial Group, Golden Gate Ventures, Vulpes Investment Management, etc.
Launched in 2017, Loship has evolved from being an online review site to a one-hour-delivery e-commerce platform, delivering everyday items such as food, groceries, medical supplies, home necessities, and others. The past year also saw Loship accelerate its commitment to innovation, with a first-of-its-kind podcast feature wherein customers can listen to multiple podcasts directly in the Loship platform while waiting for delivery.
Loship offers a wide range of services including food delivery, grocery delivery, ride-hailing, medicine delivery, laundry service, package delivery, flower delivery, beauty products delivery, and B2B supply delivery.
Loship now has a fleet of more than 70,000 drivers and 200,000 merchants, serving almost 2,000,000 customers across five big cities of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Can Tho, and Bien Hoa.
BAce Capital is a venture capital firm dedicated to investing in early-stage companies in emerging economies focusing on India and Southeast Asia, helps technology companies to grow through their knowledge and resources across China, India, and SEA.
Backed by Ant Group, BAce founders are Alibaba and Ant Group veterans invested in companies like Zomato, Paytm, Tokopedia, Lazada, etc.
SHK & Co is in alternative investing headquartered in Hong Kong. Since its establishment in 1969, the group has owned and operated market-leading platforms in financial services. The group invests across public markets, alternatives, and real assets.
Most recently, it has extended its strategy to incubate, accelerate and support emerging asset managers in the Asian region. It is also the major shareholder of a consumer finance firm, United Asia Finance Ltd.
The group currently holds about HK$44 billion in total assets as of December 31, 2020.
Vietnam is emerging as Southeast Asia’s hotspot for venture capital post-COVID