A source at Nhịp cầu đầu tư says startup Tiki may have just received nearly 1,000 billion VND in new funding.
This information is not actually new, because earlier this year Dealstreet reported that Tiki hoped to raise 50 – 60 million USD in a series D round. A person familiar with the matter said at the time that the new fundraising round might close by the end of this year.
Previously, last year, VNG invested 384 billion VNĐ in this startup, equivalent to a 38% stake.
By the end of fiscal year 2016, Tiki had recorded losses of VND 255 billion, equivalent to 3/4 of the investment it received from VNG.
Tiki CEO Trần Ngọc Thái Sơn affirmed that Tiki's heavy losses showed the company was still growing, as it was investing heavily in infrastructure, warehousing, people, technology, and payments. He said he viewed the losses as a “long-term investment”—purposeful investments aligned with the planned roadmap and goals.
Early this year, in a letter to Tiki employees, CEO Trần Ngọc Thái Sơn confirmed the company had passed the startup stage and confidently said it had found a suitable business model. For the coming year, 2017, a Tiki.vn representative said the goal was to ‘scale up very rapidly.’
Founded in 2010 as an online bookselling platform, Tiki initially received investment from Seedcom, Cyberargent Ventures and Sumitomo Corporation before VNG invested. Tiki has since expanded beyond books, increasing its product range from 100,000 to 300,000.
In 2016, Tiki.vn was also the first company to operate 3 warehouses itself, with a combined area of nearly 10,000 m2. It was also the e-commerce site with the fastest, most punctual and most consistent delivery among leading companies. Its TikiNow express service allows any product with the 2h symbol ordered through Tiki.vn, usually electronics, to be delivered to consumers within 2 hours for VND 29,000.
Collected.
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