According to multiple media sources, Philippine-based e-commerce firm GrowSari, which provides a platform to assist digitse local small companies known as sari-sari, announced a US $77.5 million Series C fundraising round today, bringing its total funding to US $110 million.
The Temase Group’s Pavilion Capital joined the fundraising round, which was led by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and KKR.
This fundraising round comes after the business announced an undisclosed Series B funding round in June 2021.
GrowSari CEO and Co-Founder Reymund Rollan stated in a statement that the funds will be used to assist the company’s expansion objectives.
“Not only will this funding allow us to fuel our growth, but this will also help us bring top global quality talent in Operations, Technology, and Data Science into the startup ecosystem of the Philippines,” he said.
The company also stated that it is in discussions for its next round of investment.
GrowSari was founded in 2016 with the goal of assisting sari-sari store owners in transforming their businesses into complete service centers for the country’s grassroots communities. It aims to expand the stores’ potential to become the Philippines’ largest and most accessible distribution channel by improving route planning efficiency and gathering important data on store activity.
Through the GrowSari app, sari-sari stores can get better pricing on over a thousand fast-moving store stock-keeping units (SKUs) from the biggest brands in all the key FMCG categories.
The company also offers microfinance help and assistance, as well as telecom, bill payment, and remittance e-services.
GrowSari claims that it has expanded from 1,000 sari-sari stores in three cities in 2018 to moreover 100,000 stores in over 220 municipalities across Luzon.
In recent years, it has spread to the Visayas and will shortly extend to Mindanao.
It will start supplying financial services and logistics in addition to its current capabilities.
One of the sectors that has lately attracted investor interest in Southeast Asia is businesses that deal with mom-and-pop stores. Kioson, one of the first tech businesses to list on the Indonesia Stock Exchange, has just been purchased by SIRCLO Group, while Warung Pintar has recently been acquired by SIRCLO Group.
