How to build and scale an online marketplace

THINK about the last time you ordered a meal to be delivered, or a ride home from work. Chances are you used one of the many multi-sided online marketplaces that are transforming our daily lives, as mobile apps for ordering just about everything become ubiquitous.

International marketplaces like Deliveroo have launched with huge success in Singapore, while home-grown marketplaces like Grab, Chope, honestbee and Carousell are fast becoming regional, if not, global, household names.

In a study of hundreds of marketplaces running on Stripe over a two-year period, we found that the revenue of a typical marketplace increased by nearly 300 per cent year over year.