George Lawie/ Flickr

Huge investment into Indian social commerce platform! E-commerce news by Nabil

You can read this article in 5 minutes

Another busy week in the world of e-commerce! Tiger Global Management continues its investment in e-commerce with 100M into Indian social commerce platform Dealshare!

The New York-based investing powerhouse is growing its interest in e-commerce companies, the company turned a 200M investment in JD.com into a $5Bln and just closed one of its biggest funds ever with $6.65 Bln so you can expect to see them in any relevant deal in the eCommerce space!!

Also….

  • Oxbotica partner with Ocado for fully autonomous fulfilment and delivery
  • Amazon Targets Furniture Assembly Service
  • Buy Now, Pay Later UK’s Zilch raises $80M
  • Brazilian e-commerce startup Olist raises $23M

Social Commerce

Tiger Global leads $100 million investment in Indian social commerce DealShare

Social commerce is going to drive the next wave of growth in eCommerce, models such as Meesho, Pinduoduo have demonstrated the power of Network+ Community + Focus on low/middle-income Consumers to compete with traditional marketplaces and eCommerce players.

There is a new wave of companies pushing in the space as the market is huge and there are still many untapped areas in the world.

DealShare is the new kid on the block, the 3 years old Indian startup which started selling on WhatsApp discounted products locally sourced has built an e-commerce platform for middle- and lower-income groups of consumers! They just raised $100M to grow!!

Robotics & Delivery

Oxbotica raises $13.8M from Ocado to build autonomous vehicle tech for the online grocer’s logistics network

https://techcrunch.com/2021/04/15/oxbotica-raises-13-8m-from-ocado-to-build-autonomous-vehicle-tech-for-the-online-grocers-logistics-network/

Can you imagine a fully automated warehouse combined with a fully automated delivery??? Well, that’s coming soon !!

Ocado, the U.K. online grocer that has built one of the most sophisticated technology for the fulfilment of grocery invested $13.8M in Oxbotica, a U.K. startup that develops autonomous driving systems.

If they are successful in combining the solutions, we could be close to see a full fulfilment and delivery loop automated!

Payment

Buy Now, Pay Later UK’s Zilch raises $80M at a $500M+ valuation

Covid has push e-commerce growth, it also pushed BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) across the globe with some major players such as Affirm or Klarna!

I love the approach of London based startup Zilch! Instead of replicating what others did, the company has built an “over the top” BNPL solution which allows cutting deals directly with consumers, bypassing the need for integrating anything new into an e-commerce site’s check-out process! The company just raised $80 million Series B with a valuation of over $500 million!

MarketPlaces

Goldman Sachs leads $23M in funding for Brazilian e-commerce startup Olist

Olist, a Brazilian e-commerce marketplace integrator, has raised $23 million in a Series D. The company connects more than 7000 small businesses to larger marketplaces to help entrepreneurs sell their products to a larger customer base. The company use a drop shipping model to send products from stores to clients around the country!

Latin America has been the fastest-growing eCommerce region as results of the Pandemic, the region’s $85 billion e-commerce market is projected to reach $116.2 billion in 2023!

Delivery 

Amazon Targets Furniture Assembly Service To Take Wayfair

In 2017, Ikea bought Task Rabbit to complement offering to sell, deliver & install many of its product portfolios!

Offering a complete service & experience is critical for any heavy & bulky items!

Last year, online sales of furniture and housewares grew 41% to $36.1Bln and they are expected to continue growing this year. That’s probably why Amazon is launching a premium service that enables customers to assemble furniture or appliances on home arrival, intensifying competition with the likes of Wayfair, Ikea, Best Buy, Home Depot and Lowe’s!

With such service, Amazon will be able to seriously compete in segments (Appliances, furniture etc…) which is dominated today by others!

Nabil Malouli is VP, Global E-commerce for DHL Supply Chain where he leads the innovation, strategy and product development of its e-commerce fulfilment and last-mile solutions.


Photo credit @ George Lawie/ Flickr

Tags