Online shopping aggregator iPrice Group announced today that it has raised US$5 million from Japan-based firms Itochu Corporation and the KDDI Open Innovation Fund III (operated by Global Brain Corporation).
The additional funding will enable the price comparison platform to continue helping online shoppers score deals in Southeast Asia.
Simultaneously, the new funding will allow iPrice to expand into the lending market, helping users find consumer loans to fund their purchases. This aligns with a report from Google, Temasek, and Bain that showed digital lending is predicted to hit US$92 billion in transactions by 2025 due to the acceleration in Southeast Asia.
With such a positive outlook, iPrice Group wants in on the lending industry. To fulfil this, the company is leveraging Itochu’s subsidiary PT ITC Auto Multi Finance, which operates Indonesian lending business PayKu.
Aside from PayKu, iPrice has already partnered with multiple lending service providers in Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Singapore, though there is no news of any Malaysian partners yet.
Another report by Facebook and Bain & Company showed that Southeast Asian digital consumers went from shopping across an average of 5.2 websites in 2020 to an average of 7.9 websites in 2021. 44% of the respondents say the reason for switching between sites is due to value-for-money.
These statistics reinforce the usefulness of a price comparison site such as iPrice, which addresses the need by aggregating offers from over 7 billion products and 8 million sellers.
Focusing on the iPrice app
A spokesperson from iPrice told Vulcan Post that the iPrice app, which already launched in Indonesia, will continue to roll out in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand throughout 2022. The app has a Price Watch feature that alerts users when their desired items see price drops
On top of expanding into lending services, the funding acquired will thus also go towards getting online shoppers onto this app.
“In 2021, more than 125 million unique users across the SEA region used the iPrice platform,” the spokesperson said. “As such, we’ll be encouraging users on our platform to utilise the app conveniently on their mobile.”
- Read our previous coverage on iPrice Group here.
- Read other articles we’ve written about Malaysian startups here.
Featured Image Credit: iPrice Group