The Venture Codex

Participated · Series B · Apr 2019

TheLorry is a Selangor-based logistics startup that connects thousands of individual and corporate clients with truck, lorry, pickup, and van owners across Southeast Asia through web and mobile channels. Its combined fleet exceeds 7,000 vehicles, including large trailers for heavy-load transportation, and it uses a matching algorithm and back-end technology to reduce costs and underutilized capacity. The company provides professional training to driver partners to improve their livelihoods and help them grow their businesses. Founded in 2014 by Nadhir Ashafiq and Goh Chee Hau, TheLorry expanded into Thailand and Indonesia last year and has reported positive growth in those markets. The startup aims to be the market leader for logistics platforms in Southeast Asia and will use new funding to strengthen its presence in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia. In 2019 the company plans to focus on existing markets while remaining open to exploring further regional expansion.

Participated · Series A · Jan 2018

StoreHub operates a commerce and payments platform serving over 20,000 merchant locations across Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Japan. The company processes more than 200 million transactions annually, representing about US$3.5 billion in annual transaction value. StoreHub provides the commerce and payments infrastructure merchants use to run their businesses and has been operating for over a decade, according to its CEO. Management says it is rebuilding its product around AI to enable smaller merchants—such as a three-person restaurant—to operate with capabilities of a much larger team. As part of its growth plans, StoreHub has entered a strategic partnership and joint venture with ShardLab to develop new consumer payment and rewards experiences at scale. Specific products, initiatives, and financial details from the partnership have not yet been announced.

Led · Equity · Aug 2016

AVANA is a Malaysia-based social commerce platform. On Thursday the company announced it raised $1 million in a pre-Series A round. The financing round was led by Gobi Partners. The article did not list other participating investors or provide additional financial details. No operating metrics, revenue figures, user counts, future plans, or use-of-proceeds information were included in the announcement. AVANA, formerly Square.my, provides a digital merchants solution. The company operates in Malaysia. In May 2016 AVANA secured RM2 million (about $498,274) in funding. Investors included Cradle Seed Ventures and co-investor Captii Ventures. Cradle Seed Ventures is the venture capital arm of Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd. Captii Ventures is described as a multi-stage Southeast Asian investment firm.

Participated · Series A · Mar 2016

ServisHero operates a mobile marketplace that connects customers with local service providers for home repairs, cleaning, fitness, beauty, drivers, accounting and SME services. The app lets customers post jobs and receive bids from multiple merchants, while service providers purchase prepaid credits to bid on jobs rather than ServisHero taking a commission. The company reports over 50,000 downloads and more than 3,000 service providers on the platform. ServisHero was born in March 2015 and is based in Malaysia, with the service already live in Singapore and, as of the article, Thailand. The company plans to use the newly raised capital to expand its regional footprint with another country launch before the end of the year. Its product emphasizes choice for consumers and a competitive bidding model for providers to keep prices transparent.