Qoo10 bags US$82m in Series A funding by SPH and investors

Singapore

PAN-ASIAN e-commerce platform QOO10 has bagged US$82.1 million in a Series A funding round led by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), with participation from eBay, Saban Capital Group, UVM 2 Venture Investments, Brookside Capital and Oak Investment Partners.

The investment, made to Qoo10's Singapore-based parent company Giosis and announced on Wednesday, will go into growing the Qoo10 team and deepening its presence in Malaysia, Hong Kong and China.

SPH, as lead investor in this Series A round, will partner Qoo10 to explore collaboration opportunities on the e-commerce platform in content, marketplace, retail, advertising and classifieds.

Qoo10, a joint venture formed between eBay and Gmarket founder Ku Young Bae in 2010, now operates in Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and China. It has amassed 17.6 million users, who last year gave the company US$408 million in gross merchandise volume.

Founded on US$20 million in seed capital after Gmarket was acquired for US$1.2 billion by eBay in 2009, Qoo10 did not raise any external funding prior to this Series A round, The Business Times learned.

Hyun Wook Cho, country manager of Qoo10 Singapore, told BT: "We think the South-east Asia e-commerce market is at a very early stage. It's getting more competitive as many competitors are joining this market. But our top priority is market-building rather than competition. We'll focus on developing the e-commerce experiences of seller and buyers by this funding and our know-how."

SPH shares added three Singapore cents to close at S$4.23 on Wednesday.