The Malaysian “SaaS-enabled” platform Dropee, that connects brands with local retailers in Southeast Asia, has closed a seed-extension round of USD 1.3 million, the company informed in a media release. Participants have been new and existing investors such as Y Combinator, Ondine Capital, Vynn Capital, Brama One Ventures, and angel investors.
Dropee will use the funds to help wholesale businesses transition their trading and procurement operations online. Since 2017, the e-commerce platform has been working with various brands, wholesalers, and retailers. It managed to raise the funding after graduating from Y Combinator’s Demo Day of the Winter 2020 batch.
“Oftentimes, the largest bottleneck when going-digital is the setting up process,” said Lennise Ng, CEO and co-founder of Dropee. “That’s where wholesalers and brands create their digital catalog, upload thousands of SKUs online, and have their retail customers to order from their online stores. Our team has been working hard to improve that experience.”
Currently, Dropee has two products: Dropee Marketplace, a platform where retailers and business buyers can search and source from new and existing suppliers via a single platform, and Dropee Direct, a e-commerce SaaS for wholesalers and brands to bring their offline trading processes online.
Many retail customers are changing their purchasing behavior throughout COVID-19 by reducing their usual purchasing amount and opting for cheaper product alternatives, the company found. Dropee provides a solution for these wholesale businesses that struggle to adapt in the new normal. Dropee’s clients include British American Tobacco and Petronas, among others.