The Venture Codex

Participated · Series A · Nov 2023

Etaily provides an end-to-end digital retail platform that supports marketplace operations, direct-to-consumer storefronts, social commerce, livestreaming, digital and affiliate marketing, studio production, and customer service for brands in Southeast Asia. Its proprietary commerce engine covers the full value chain from brand development to fulfillment and analytics, and the company has recently added livestreaming, affiliate, and short-form video capabilities. To date, Etaily has processed more than 40 million orders across Lazada, Shopee, TikTok Shop, and brand websites. The company is led by founder and CEO Alexander Friedhoff. Following its latest raise, Etaily’s total funding exceeds $24 million. Management plans to deploy the new capital to expand operations and accelerate product development, aiming to deepen its service offerings for both regional and international brands.

Participated · Series B · May 2023

ZUZU Hospitality offers a platform for revenue management and distribution that helps independent hotels compete with global chains. The company has developed an AI revenue management product called RevMate using a dataset from over 3,000 hotels across Southeast Asia and India. ZUZU says its existing hotel partners have seen an average 8x return on investment, and Wavemaker highlighted 30–40% growth in occupancy rates tied to the technology. The firm plans to use new capital to accelerate product development, expand data capabilities, and scale go-to-market efforts. ZUZU remains loss-making but reported revenue growth from $1.28 million in 2021 to $7.18 million in 2023, per DealStreetAsia’s DATA VANTAGE. The company cites McKinsey estimates that AI could generate over $400 billion in annual value across travel and hospitality, supporting its market opportunity. ZUZU Hospitality Solutions is a Singapore-based travel technology startup offering revenue platforms to help independent hotels maximize revenue. The company plans to invest in AI tools to enhance pricing, automate guest management, and improve partner experience. With the new funding it aims to double the number of hotel partners and reach 5,000 partners by the end of 2024, with particular emphasis on India. Management framed the raise as validation of investor confidence after the company sustained operations through the pandemic. The statement also cites a recovering Southeast Asian online travel market as a tailwind for growth. Zuzu combines software and hands-on services to help independently owned small hotels outsource bookings, marketing, revenue management and dynamic pricing while preserving each property's own brand. The team checks in with hotels every one to two days to revamp online marketing content, find new distribution channels and collect guest reviews through Zuzu’s site. Most hotels on the platform prefer a revenue-sharing payment model, aligning Zuzu’s incentives with its clients. The company claims hotels can see a 60% to 100% increase in online bookings after signing up. Since launching last July, Zuzu has signed more than 150 hotels across Taiwan, India and Thailand and plans to expand further in Asia. Financially, the startup has raised $2 million in a seed round plus angel investments, bringing total capital raised to $3 million.

Participated · Equity · Mar 2022

SariSuki is a Philippine social commerce startup founded by former Grab Philippines president Brian Cu. The company operates in the social commerce space, connecting buyers and sellers through online social channels. According to regulatory filings cited in the article, SariSuki has raised about $12.7 million in fresh funding. The round was led by Kickstart Ventures. The article does not provide additional details on product specifics, revenue, user metrics, or future plans. Public regulatory filings were the source of the fundraising disclosure. SariSuki is a Manila-based social commerce and community group buying startup that sells daily essentials and groceries via a quick-commerce app. The app commits to delivering high-quality produce in under 15 minutes within its coverage areas. Founded in 2021, the company has served more than 60,000 consumers and grown its team to over 100 employees. In its latest round SariSuki raised US$7.1M, bringing total funding to US$10.5M in 2021. The company plans to use the funds to increase product assortment, build dark warehouses and expand geographically. Operating metrics reported in the article include the user count (>60,000) and employee headcount (100+).

Participated · Seed · Apr 2021

Founded in 2019, Plentina operates a BNPL platform that lets consumers split payments for necessities such as groceries, telecom services, and education supplies, as well as discretionary items like airline tickets, gaming credits, and e-commerce purchases. The Android-only service has grown its app downloads 500% in 2021, expanding from 30,000 to more than 150,000 users, and an iOS launch is planned for early 2022. Plentina has partnered with more than 20 merchants, including 7-Eleven, Lazada, Shopee, Agoda, and McDonald’s, and maintains a wait-list of over 20 additional brands. Loan terms, originally capped at 14 days, now extend up to three months to accommodate higher-ticket items. Beyond BNPL, the company intends to launch additional data-driven financial services, leveraging its founders’ backgrounds in data science at Google and Charles Schwab. The new capital will fund continued growth in the Philippines, senior hiring, and an initial expansion into Vietnam next year. To date the company has raised $5.7 million in venture funding and is targeting a Series A in 2022.