Original Press Release From iPrice Group
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iPrice Group, Southeast Asian’s preeminent Meta-Search platform, raised USD $4 million Series A investment. The round was led by Asia Venture Group (AVG) and Venturra – with participation by Gobi Partners, DMP, Econa, Starstrike Ventures and personal CEO investment.
Working hand in hand with its e-commerce partners, iPrice currently merchandizes over 50 million products to online shoppers in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Hong Kong. While its e-commerce aggregation platform makes it easier for consumers to find the best prices, iPrice assists its partners with cost-effective and performance-based affiliate programs that help them broaden their marketing efforts.
Since its last funding, iPrice has expanded at an accelerated rate, with its traffic jumping over 500% in the past 12 months. David Chmelař, iPrice Group CEO, adds: “What is even more extraordinary is that we have been able to grow entirely organically and are approaching profitability even faster than originally planned.”
To support its next phase of growth, the Kuala Lumpur-headquartered company has recently added two key members to its leadership team: Dr. Konstantin Lange, Co-founder of online grocer HappyFresh, as COO; and Matteo Sutto, Zalora alumnus and Founder of Tate & Tonic, as SVP of Growth.
iPrice now employs a staff of over one hundred people, with local teams representing each of the 7 countries where the company operates.
Straightening Out Clutter in the E-Commerce Sector for Both Consumers & Merchants
“We’ve seen first-hand need for a comprehensive platform where consumers can consistently find the best deals and product information. At the same time, we also saw the need for reliable and performance driven marketing channels servicing merchants, which were also lacking in the region. In the past 12 months, we have helped a multitude of our partners to grow their monthly traffic and GMV by an additional 50%,” say enthused Chmelař.
As the e-commerce space continues to develop rapidly and become increasingly fragmented, consumers find it more and more challenging to look for the best prices across the myriad of merchants. A study by iPrice reveals that only 2 out of 10 products in SEA can be purchased at the cheapest price from the largest e-commerce merchants, while consumers would have to visit dozens of different websites to ensure better deals.
With thought-leaders such as Google and Temasek predicting the SEA e-commerce space becoming a $200 billion industry by 2025, the demand for differentiated marketing channels will rise.
More mature e-commerce markets such as the U.S. have shown the importance of affiliate marketing channels for the e-commerce economy. A study conducted by Forrester Consulting revealed that the majority ofe-commerce merchants are devoting over 10% of their marketing budgets to affiliate programs.
To fully tap into this opportunity, iPrice plans to open up its fully monetized product catalogue, already the biggest of its kind in SEA, to publishers and third-party websites with a customisable suite of tools, designed to drive their revenue potential.
“Given the combination of e-commerce hyper growth, the solidity of iPrice’s business model, and the unique execution skills that the team has demonstrated, iPrice will become one of the largest and most profitable company emerging from Southeast Asia’s e-commerce landscape,” says Tim Marbach, CEO and Founder of Asia Venture Group.
Chmelař further elaborates that iPrice’s success in helping millions of users to find the most accurate product information is just the beginning of what iPrice envisions to become.
“Our ambition is to become the primary gateway to online retail in Southeast Asia. The size and technology behind our product catalogue, together with our unmatched monetization capabilities, allow us to look at horizontal and vertical expansions to capture additional market opportunities.
“Much remains to be done to make online retail easier for consumers, from Kuala Lumpur to Manila, and iPrice is paving this path,” he concludes.
About iPrice Group
iPrice is Southeast Asia’s leading Meta-Search platform, connecting consumers with hundreds of e-commerce merchants through a great shopping experience. Since October 2014, the platform has established itself as the fastest growing in its segment across seven markets: Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines and Hong Kong.
iPrice currently operates three business lines: price comparison for electronics and health & beauty; product discovery for fashion and home & living; and coupons across all verticals.