After Voonik Merger, ShopUp Raises $22.5 Mn Funding Led By Sequoia Capital India, Others

Bangladesh-based social commerce platform ShopUp has raised $22.5 Mn in a Series A round, which was led by Sequoia Capital India and Flourish Ventures, with additional participation through VEON Ventures, Speedinvest, and Lonsdale Capital.

With this fresh capital, the company plans to increase its retail reach, deepen partnerships with manufacturers, and focus on building tech-first infrastructure.

ShopUp is a social commerce platform that helps micro-entrepreneurs in Bangladesh to set up a storefront on Facebook, access working capital and grow their business by automating many sales and operational processes. 

ShopUp uses a proprietary algorithm that analyses over 2,000 data features to assess a merchant’s capital requirements and repayment capacity, then refers them to partner institutions for loans.

“We believed in the power of internet and technology adoption by small businesses and founded ShopUp as we wanted to be a key driver of this transformation. Covid-19 has further underscored the need for digital transformation for the country’s smaller businesses. This fresh round of funding will support us in increasing our retail reach, deepening our partnerships with manufacturers, and focusing on building tech-first infrastructure. We have a deeply passionate team that is committed to playing its part in redefining Bangladesh’s growth story,” said Afeef Zaman, CEO of ShopUp.

Earlier this year, ShopUp had opened an office in Bengaluru to hire local tech talent in the nation.

In February, Bengaluru-based fashion retailer Voonik had merged with ShopUp, with both the founders of Voonik joining ShopUp as cofounders.

After being a part of Sequoia Surge batch 1, ShopUp currently has over 95K micro and small businesses on the platform.

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