Participated · Equity · Jan 2018

Carmudi is a Rocket Internet-backed company that sells cars online in emerging markets. The business has retrenched to focus on Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka and has relocated its headquarters to Jakarta from Berlin. It has expanded beyond classified listings to include new-car sales and finance packages in Indonesia alongside banking partners. CEO Pranjal Kanwar plans to double the company’s revenues in Indonesia and expand its presence beyond six to eight cities. Carmudi claims over 100,000 vehicle listings that attract more than five million monthly visitors but did not disclose sales or revenue figures. At its peak the company covered more than 20 markets, though some services were absorbed or are controlled by other Rocket-backed operations (Africa services were taken by Jumia). Carmudi operates an online car classifieds platform targeting emerging markets. The site hosts about 300,000 vehicle listings and claims roughly five million users per month. Mobile is central to its product: Android apps rolled out last year, an iOS version launched earlier this month, mobile apps have been downloaded about 300,000 times, and mobile visits account for roughly 60–70% of traffic. The company monetizes through listing fees but is currently prioritizing expansion and growth. Founded in 2013 and now operating in 20 countries across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, Carmudi says it is the top car classifieds site in the Philippines, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. With the new funding it plans to expand into seven Asian markets (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam) and Mexico, invest in product technology—particularly mobile usability—and scale operations. Carmudi is an online car classifieds site backed by Rocket Internet. The site launched last year and operates a network across eleven countries, six of which are in Asia (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines and Vietnam). The company says its listings are growing 200% a month and will soon reach about 100,000 worldwide. Carmudi competes in Asia with local operators and Malaysia-based iCar Asia, which has pursued rapid expansion despite reporting a $2.78M loss on $551,000 of revenue in the fiscal year ending June 30. Rocket Internet pursues a strategy of rapid expansion in emerging markets with high mobile penetration, and Carmudi benefits from cross-portfolio logistics groundwork alongside companies like Easy Taxi and Zalora. Co-founder and global managing director Stefan Haubold said the funding will help Carmudi become the number-one online vehicle marketplace in Asia and evolve into a one-stop shop for car reviews, news, tips and advice.

Participated · Series A · Apr 2017

ZEN Rooms operates a budget and mid-range hotel franchise across Southeast Asia, offering operational and technological solutions to help independent hotels increase revenue and reduce costs. Its services include franchise management, technology, automation, training and other operational support aimed at improving hygiene, safety and customer experience. ZEN has franchised 13,000 rooms across the region and by Q2 2019 was the #1 hotel chain in the Philippines with 5,500 rooms. Since Yanolja's mid‑2018 investment, ZEN's revenues grew 400%. The company plans to use the new funding and alliance to deploy automation, IoT R&D, hardware and software to further lower hotels' operating costs and enhance traveler experiences. Founded in 2015 by Kiren Tanna and Nathan Boublil, ZEN positions itself to professionalize the fragmented economy hotel sector in Southeast Asia. Zen Rooms operates a budget-hotel franchise model that guarantees minimum standards (WiFi, fresh towels, hot showers, etc.) and uses a mobile app to manage quality and bookings. The company manages the Zen Rooms brand for hotels and helps them access customers via internet distribution. It is active in six cities across Southeast Asia and claims roughly 1,000 hotel franchisees with an inventory of more than 7,000 rooms; it previously ran operations in Brazil, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka. Zen Rooms had raised $8 million to date, including a $4.1 million Series A last April, but a major funding deal of over $10 million collapsed in Q1 2018 and depleted its runway, forcing cutbacks. After closing the new strategic investment, the company has been hiring again and says it now has capital to invest. Zen Rooms plans to focus on five Southeast Asian markets and may expand to Vietnam. Zen Rooms operates a network of partner budget hotels across Southeast Asia, offering a booking platform that guarantees standards such as free Wi‑Fi, working air conditioning, clean towels and a concierge smartphone app. It typically signs hotels on a revenue-share model and also operates about 30 full properties for which it takes full inventory ownership. The company covers roughly 1,000 hotel partners in the region and employs around 100 staff. Zen Rooms focuses on Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore, and also lists hotels in Brazil, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong. Co‑founder and global MD Nathan Boublil said the company has attracted attention from traditional hotel groups and plans regional expansion into Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. Boublil did not disclose specific revenue or booking metrics publicly. The company plans to pursue a Series B toward the end of the year.

Led · Equity · Mar 2017

Helpling is a Rocket Internet–founded home‑services marketplace that connects customers with cleaners and other household service providers via its app. The company sells both on‑demand bookings and is exploring subscription‑based commerce and affiliate revenue models for its service providers. Helpling says it is continuing its "path to profitability" and previously disclosed €10 million in new funding in March. Over the next 12 months it plans to roll out additional household services internationally and invest in technological product development to increase platform automation. Helpling is working with Unilever on co‑branded marketing, content development and in‑store promotions, and is exploring using cleaners’ knowledge to help Unilever reach Helpling’s customers. Management has emphasized retaining and motivating quality cleaners as a key priority for the supply side of the marketplace. Helpling operates an online marketplace that lets consumers book a range of home services, with home cleaning as its entry vertical. The company has expanded its offering beyond cleaning to additional household services such as window cleaning, furniture assembly and paint work across 20 German cities. Helpling says more than 85% of its business comes from long-term customers who require weekly or bi-weekly cleaning, and its core markets became profitable during the Summer. Management plans to double down on the best user-acquisition channels and cross-sell additional services to convert more customers into repeat business. The company raised new funding to enable it to reach profitability within the next year. Mangrove Capital Partners said Helpling dominates the home cleaning sector in Europe. Helpling operates a two-sided marketplace that connects people seeking home cleaning with vetted cleaners and uses a rating algorithm to surface top providers. The service debuted in Berlin in March 2014 and has expanded to roughly 200 cities across Europe and elsewhere. Helpling cites more than 50,000 customers to date, while noting the vast majority of jobs are concentrated in its top 20 cities. The company says its marketplace is only profitable at scale and that repeat bookings drive the real revenue. Helpling centralizes cleaner recruitment and vetting to enable rapid expansion and relies on customer ratings for quality control. Management plans to use new funding to continue scaling operations and entering additional markets. Helpling is a Rocket Internet-backed cleaners-on-demand marketplace that connects vetted cleaners with customers. Launched in Berlin in March this year, the company says it is active in over 150 cities across eight markets in Europe and Latin America. Helpling does not disclose customer or cleaner counts and has not shared financial metrics. It establishes local offices with small teams and vets cleaners through a multistep process including interviews, cleaning tests, document submissions and references. The sector is crowded with competitors such as HomeJoy, Housekeep, Mopp/Handy, Hassle and TaskRabbit. Helpling says it aims to expand access to home cleaning via flexible, convenient and secure services, though it has not specified how the new funding will be used.

Participated · Equity · Feb 2016

Lamudi is a global real-estate platform that focuses exclusively on emerging markets and was launched in late 2013 with Rocket Internet. It is led by CEO Kian Moini and operates active property portals in Asia (Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) and Latin America (Mexico, Colombia, Peru). Early this year the company launched a tech-enabled brokerage business in Indonesia under a separate brand and has already surpassed 100 transactions per month in its ninth month of operations. The business plans to use the majority of its newest funding for growth. Existing investors include Asia Pacific Internet Group (a joint venture of Rocket Internet and Ooredoo), Holtzbrinck Ventures, and Tengelmann Ventures. The platform’s focus and recent operational traction position it to expand its marketplace and brokerage efforts across its emerging-market footprint. Launched in October 2013, Lamudi operates property-listings portals across nine emerging markets including the Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Colombia and Peru. The company runs two separate businesses under the Lamudi name: the Asia and Latin America operation (which closed this financing) and a sister business covering Africa and the Middle East that is backed by Africa Internet Group and was not part of this round. Lamudi’s core product is an online real-estate listings site that currently hosts close to one million listings and sees around four million monthly visits. Roughly half of traffic comes from its Mexico and Philippines sites. Management says revenue grew 460% last year and expects growth could be higher in 2016. With the new funding the company believes it can reach profitability within the coming year or so while focusing on deeper penetration in its existing markets rather than geographic expansion. Lamudi is an online property listings platform focused on emerging markets. Launched in October 2013 and run from Rocket Internet's Berlin HQ, it operates in 32 countries across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. The service hosts more than 800,000 total listings (over 550,000 in its Asian and Latin American markets) and employs over 800 staff. Lamudi plans to tighten operations to win competitive markets, monetize nascent markets, add services for developers to showcase and sell new developments, and pursue modest geographic expansion. To drive revenue it is transitioning customers from months-long free trials to paid subscriptions via monthly listing fees and banner advertising. Management declined to disclose revenue figures; the company is raising capital to grow market share and revenues and appears some way from profitability. Lamudi is Rocket Internet’s real-estate classifieds platform that aggregates property listings across emerging markets. It operates in 21 markets globally and currently runs in five Asian markets: Myanmar, Indonesia, Philippines, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The platform reported more than 200,000 property listings as of this month, up from 100,000 earlier in the year—a 100% increase in Q1. Rocket Internet consolidated multiple real-estate services under the Lamudi brand last October and has pledged to grow Lamudi rapidly. Lamudi has closed a $7 million funding round to beef up its operations in Asia, with the new capital focused on its five Asian markets. The investment includes Tengelmann Ventures and other new, undisclosed investors; Rocket Internet declined to specify whether the $7M is a seed or later-stage financing and did not disclose Lamudi’s total funding to date. A Rocket Internet spokeswoman said half of Lamudi’s 200,000 listings come from its five Asian countries and that the company plans further expansion in Asia, though specific new markets were not disclosed.

Participated · Equity · Sep 2015

Daraz is an e-commerce portal founded in 2012 that began as a fashion site and expanded into home and other categories. The company positions itself as the biggest e-commerce platform in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. It operates in underdeveloped frontier markets with low internet penetration and infrastructure challenges, though Rocket Internet and Daraz see rapid market development and rising online consumer demand. Daraz has received its first major external funding and is not disclosing valuation or current business figures. The announced funding is intended to continue growth in existing markets and to support expansion into other frontier Asian markets. CDC highlighted that the investment should help professionalize local retail, logistics and technology sectors and create several thousand direct and indirect jobs over the next five years.