Singapore’s SCI Ecommerce closes $65.4m round backed by EDBI, others

Southeast Asia’s cross-border e-commerce enabler SCI Ecommerce has closed an S$88 million ($65.4 million) financing round after raising fresh capital from EDBI and other investors, it said on Thursday.

In the first tranche of the round announced two months ago, the company had secured S$50 million ($38 million) led by Singapore-based private equity firm Asia Partners.

New investors subsequently joined the round, including the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB)’s global investment arm EDBI, US private asset manager Financial Investments Corporation, Philippine conglomerate A. Soriano Corporation, as well as investors from Asia, North America, Europe, and the Middle East.

SCI Ecommerce also counts Jubilee Capital, two Alibaba co-founders, Sam Goi’s family office, and several Asian ultra-high net worth technology entrepreneurs as existing backers.

“The expansion of our fundraising round is a strong endorsement of our integrated e-commerce business model, which already serves many of the world’s most iconic consumer brands. With these resources in hand, we look forward to investing in new technologies and capabilities to serve our clients, while completing our preparations to become our region’s first publicly traded e-commerce enabler,” said Joseph Liu Jiannan, Group CEO at SCI Ecommerce.

The round is likely to be SCI’s last private market financing ahead of an IPO. According to a Bloomberg report, SCI Ecommerce is planning a listing in New York as early as the end of this year with a market valuation of $1 billion.

In an interview with DealStreetAsia last year, Liu Jiannan had said that the company was looking at going public in the next 18 to 24 months.

Founded in 2014, SCI enables product and brand exposure on Southeast Asian e-commerce marketplaces like Shopee, Lazada, Qoo10, ezbuy, Tokopedia, Bukalapak, and Blibli, as well as major Chinese platforms including Alibaba’s Tmall Global, JD Worldwide, WeChat, and NetEase’s Kaola.

According to SCI, its revenue has grown more than 75x in over three years. It also claims to be cash flow positive and profitable since 2019, a rare feat among the region’s internet companies. The firm counts several global brand names as existing clients such as Unilever, Abbot, Stanley Black & Decker, Crayola, Nestle, Vinda, and Danone.

SCI signed on new brand partners during the last quarter, including 121-year old Singapore-based beverage company Yeo’s, Singapore-based wellness company Kinohimitsu, and Swiss computer peripherals company Logitech.

SCI also began a partnership with TikTok during this period, allowing the former’s brand partners to conduct sales directly through the short video app in Indonesia.

Other prominent e-commerce enablers in the region include Bangkok-based aCommerce, which is also gearing up for a local IPO; SGX Catalist-listed Anchanto, which is backed by Indonesia’s MDI Ventures; and Y Ventures Group, which went public in a S$7.7 million ($5.40 million) IPO on the SGX in July 2017.