The majority ownership of the Malaysian price comparison website iPrice has been acquired, according to an announcement made by the Indonesian e-commerce company Bukalapak.
By utilizing the synergies between the two groups, iPrice will be able to accelerate its growth thanks to this strategic investment, according to a statement from Bukalapak.
Over the past ten years, Southeast Asia’s e-commerce has grown so quickly that certain verticals are now large enough to specialize in.
Bukalapak noticed this pattern and made the decision to stop directly competing with other marketplaces and instead concentrate on creating or acquiring niche marketplaces and fostering their expansion.
In the past eight years, iPrice has developed such a highly specialised market.
Due to its unwavering focus on budget-conscious customers, it has gained the trust of consumers in Southeast Asia.
In 7 SouthEast Asian nations in 2022, it assisted more than 100 million consumers in saving money.
In a market with a wide range of sale events and challenging discount mechanisms, its proprietary technology extracts the best offers and discounts from more than 8 billion offers.
“I’ve known David and the team for years and have always been excited about their work, then recently the opportunity emerged to work together more closely,” said Willix Halim, Chief Executive Officer of Bukalapak.
“With Bukalapak’s extensive expertise in e-commerce and iPrice’s loyal userbase and proprietary technology, we are confident that we can unlock the platform’s full potential,” he further stated.
Investors in iPrice, including Itochu and Naver, are pleased with the deal.
Last year’s rapidly declining fundraising market compelled iPrice to drastically reduce its team and scale back on a number of business operations.
It changed to investigate fresh avenues for the businesses’ efficient growth.
Bukalapak group’s footing in a diverse set of verticals, which has opened up many new opportunities, will now accelerate this transition.
“We are excited to join forces with Bukalapak and benefit from the group’s synergies,
“This partnership will allow us to expand our services to help even more users save money across new verticals, like gaming, and geographies, like Australia,” said Heinrich Wendel, Co-Founder of iPrice.
