Alibaba, Brunei invest in Singapore logistic firm Ninja Van
Singapore-based logistics startup Ninja Van has raised $578 million in a new funding round backed by China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and the Brunei Investment Agency, bringing the firm’s valuation to more than $1 billion and thus creating another Southeast Asian unicorn.
Existing investors B Capital Group, a venture capital firm set up by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin and Raj Ganguly, a former executive at Bain Capital, and French-German parcel delivery company Geopost/DPDgroup also participated in the fundraising, according to accompany statement.
Founded in 2014, Ninja Van operates a regional platform across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, employing more than 61,000 staff and delivery personnel and currently handling about two million packages a day.
In a previous funding round in May 2020, Ninja Van received capital from Singapore-headquartered ride-hailing and e-commerce firm Grab Holdings.
High potential of e-commerce in Southeast Asia
“We strongly believe in the potential of e-commerce in Southeast Asia, in particular the power of technology-enabled logistics to fuel e-commerce growth,” said Kenny Ho, Alibaba’s head of investment for Southeast Asia, adding that Alibaba was “confident the partnership would better serve participants in the ecosystem across the region.”
Ninja Van’s clients include Lazada and the e-commerce platform of Singapore tech conglomerate Sea Limited known as Shopee. It also counts Indonesia’s Tokopedia – which recently merged with fellow Indonesia tech company Gojek to form GoTo – to its customers.
In a next step, Ninja Van could seek an initial public offering probably in the coming year.
Singapore-based logistics startup Ninja Van has raised $578 million in a new funding round backed by China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and the Brunei Investment Agency, bringing the firm’s valuation to more than $1 billion and thus creating another Southeast Asian unicorn. Existing investors B Capital Group, a venture capital firm set up by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin and Raj Ganguly, a former executive at Bain Capital, and French-German parcel delivery company Geopost/DPDgroup also participated in the fundraising, according to accompany statement. Founded in 2014, Ninja Van operates a regional platform across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines,...
Singapore-based logistics startup Ninja Van has raised $578 million in a new funding round backed by China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and the Brunei Investment Agency, bringing the firm’s valuation to more than $1 billion and thus creating another Southeast Asian unicorn.
Existing investors B Capital Group, a venture capital firm set up by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin and Raj Ganguly, a former executive at Bain Capital, and French-German parcel delivery company Geopost/DPDgroup also participated in the fundraising, according to accompany statement.
Founded in 2014, Ninja Van operates a regional platform across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, employing more than 61,000 staff and delivery personnel and currently handling about two million packages a day.
In a previous funding round in May 2020, Ninja Van received capital from Singapore-headquartered ride-hailing and e-commerce firm Grab Holdings.
High potential of e-commerce in Southeast Asia
“We strongly believe in the potential of e-commerce in Southeast Asia, in particular the power of technology-enabled logistics to fuel e-commerce growth,” said Kenny Ho, Alibaba’s head of investment for Southeast Asia, adding that Alibaba was “confident the partnership would better serve participants in the ecosystem across the region.”
Ninja Van’s clients include Lazada and the e-commerce platform of Singapore tech conglomerate Sea Limited known as Shopee. It also counts Indonesia’s Tokopedia – which recently merged with fellow Indonesia tech company Gojek to form GoTo – to its customers.
In a next step, Ninja Van could seek an initial public offering probably in the coming year.
