Local e-commerce startup SariSuki, founded by former Grab Philippines country head Brian Cu, raised $10.7 million in funding from regional and global investors.
SariSuki said Openspace, Susquehanna International Group (SIG), Global Founders Capital (GFC), Saison Capital, JG Digital Equity Ventures, and Foxmont Capital Partners are among its investors.
“With the new funds, SariSuki aims to deepen the breadth and depth of its operations to serve more Filipino consumers,” the startup said in a statement.
The e-commerce grocery sector player was introduced in May last year. It was able to grow its gross merchandise value by 36 times in the past nine months.
It has served over 60,000 consumers from the Greater Metro Manila Area, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal and Pampanga.
“We are a set of founders that grew up in the Philippines and have an understanding of our market. This combined with our background in scaling up large tech companies in the region made us realize we can do more by increasing efficiencies in our supply chain infrastructure,” Cu said.
“SariSuki offers Filipinos value grocery products at extremely affordable prices that meet their daily needs. We are also empowering community leaders to be strong microentrepreneurs that will help propel the country’s economic growth from the grassroots level.”
Under its community group buy model, SariSuki serves as a consolidator of grocery items for their partner merchants; the entrepreneurs earn from directly selling produce and goods. This allows the startup to offer “supermarket quality products at wet market prices.”
“We were always deeply impressed with the team at SariSuki, and believe the depth of talent they now have at all levels of the business will be key as they continue to grow, expand and consolidate their early leadership position,” said Openspace Executive Director Gervin Yan.
Foxmont Capital Partners Director of Portfolio Management Nico Sibal, meanwhile, said the “the digitalization of the Philippines, and especially how Sarisuki provides a wide-ranging platform that allows many communities new and meaningful access to that future.”
Citing a report, the Philippines’s e-commerce potential market is expected to reach $15 billion by 2025.
Source: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2022/03/03/sarisuki-bags-10-7m-in-new-funds/