Bangladesh's Full-stack B2B Commerce Platform ShopUp Secures $75 Million in Funding

Bangladesh's ShopUp has secured $75 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures. The Series B round also saw participation from Prosus Ventures, and existing investors Flourish Ventures, Sequoia Capital India, and VEON Ventures.

The funding round for the largest full-stack B2B commerce platform in South Asia went oversubscribed. The company has raised $110 million in total funding till date.

"Our mission is to put 4.5 million small retailers in the driving seat of Bangladesh’s economic growth. We are building best-in-class infrastructure to support retail operations all over the country, adding new categories to serve the underserved small retailers and launching new financial products to meet the unarticulated needs of the retailers we serve," said Afeef Zaman, CEO and co-founder of ShopUp.

Bangladesh has one of the largest fragmented retail markets in Asia. 98% of retail consumption in the country happens through the small mom-and-pops stores. These stores often struggle while procuring goods from multiple suppliers, distributor and wholesalers. They also encounter many other problems such as unreliable delivery, lack of price transparency. ShopUp is looking to help these retailers by removing the inherent blockers within traditional supply chain, logistics, and financing.

 

India-based Voice AI Company Skit Raises $23M in Series B

Bengaluru, India-based Skit has announced that it has raised $23 million in its Series B funding round. The company had recently rebranded from Vernacular.ai. The round was led by WestBridge Capital with participation from Kalaari Capital and Exfinity Ventures, Angelist syndicate led by Aaryaman Vir Shah from Prophetic Ventures and Letsventure syndicate led by Sense AI.

The Series B funding will be used to fuel the "next level of growth and product evolution" of Skit. The company will use the funding to improve its sales and marketing, delivery capabilities, and R&D.

The leading voice AI company was founded in 2016 by IIT Roorkee alumnus.

Commenting on the capital raise, Sourabh Gupta, CEO and Co-founder of Skit said, "This investment comes when we are making strategic inroads into the US and Southeast Asian markets. Clients and investors alike have recognized the uniqueness and superiority of our product and continue to show confidence in our growth path.

The global voice customer service market is valued at about $300 million, and Skit will look to address this market through its Vernacular Intelligent Voice Assistant (VIVA), an AI-based voice assistant platform.