Carousell acquires Malaysian rival
Home-grown peer-to-peer marketplace Carousell has acquired Duriana, a Malaysian mobile classifieds start-up, for an undisclosed sum.
Carousell said in a statement that the deal will give it a significant boost in the Philippines, where Duriana has "built a credible presence".
Duriana is Carousell's third acquisition in less than six months. Carousell has been growing rapidly - expanding to 19 major cities in seven countries since its launch in August 2012.
Duriana users will join the Carousell marketplace, where they can buy and sell online as part of a larger community.
"A classifieds marketplace offers its users the most value when there's a large and vibrant community of buyers and sellers on the platform," said Carousell co-founder and chief executive Quek Siu Rui.
"We saw that Duriana users had similar demographics and interests in buying and selling fashion items, gadgets and electronics as well as home furnishing. By bringing Duriana users onto the Carousell platform, we're helping more people buy and sell their preloved items quickly and easily," he added.
iCommerce Asia raises $2m to fuel growth
Local start-up iCommerce Asia, which offers logistics management services to e-commerce firms, completed a $2 million round of funding last month to fuel its next growth phase.
The start-up, which began with seed funding of $300,000 in April last year, provides businesses with end-to-end e-commerce solutions through its expertise in logistics, warehouse management and eValue-Added Services that include e-commerce store creation and digital content production.
Clients such as Cotton On Group, Heatwave Shoes, Hachi.Tech and Charles & Keith use its supply chain network to fulfill domestic and international e-commerce orders.
iCommerce Asia's next stage of development will focus on Indonesia.
Managing director Ali Ridha Madihid said many foreign firms find exporting goods to Indonesia to be prohibitively difficult.
iCommerce Asia helps them by connecting them to major marketplaces such as Indonesian online retailer Matahari Mall, with centralised fulfilment from its Singapore distribution centre.
