Daraz

Daraz is an online marketplace and logistics company which operates in markets of South Asia and Southeast Asia. It was founded in 2012 by the German venture capital company, Rocket Internet. Daraz Group operates e-commerce platforms and logistics service in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.[1] Bjarke Mikkelsen is the CEO and founder of Daraz.[2][3] In May 2018, Daraz Group was acquired by the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group.[4][5]

Daraz
Private
IndustryE-commerce
Founded2012 (2012)
FounderRocket Internet
Area served
Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
Key people
Bjarke Mikkelsen (CEO)
ProductsMarketplace, retailer
ParentAlibaba Group
Websitewww.daraz.com

History

Daraz was founded as a fashion retailer in Pakistan in 2012, but changed to a general marketplace strategy and business model in 2015 when it also launched operations in Bangladesh and Myanmar.[6][7]

Funding

In September 2015, Daraz secured 50 million euros in its Series B funding in order to expand operations in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan. CDC Group, a state-owned Development Finance Institution (DFI) in the UK,[8] invested €20 million alongside a €30 million investment from Daraz's existing majority shareholder, Asia Internet Holdings.[9][10]

Acquisition

In July 2016, Daraz Group acquired Kaymu, a consumer-to-consumer online marketplace in South Asia. With this acquisition it began operations in Nepal and Sri Lanka.[11][12][13]

In May 2018, Daraz Group announced that it had been acquired by Alibaba Group for an undisclosed amount. This was two years after Alibaba's acquisition of Lazada Group, which was also a startup by Rocket Internet Group in the South-East Asian market. Alibaba Group also runs Singapore's Redmart, and owns stakes in Japan's Rakuten and Indonesia's Tokopedia.[14][15][16]

Daraz Group's five markets (Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) cover more than 460 million people, of whom 60% are under the age of 35. In order to digitize the logistics ecosystem and to improve the delivery standards, Daraz has built its own logistics company, Daraz Express (DEX), in all five markets.[17]

References
  1. "Building South Asia's Leading Ecommerce Platform". Gigabit Magazine.
  2. "Bjarke Mikkelsen - Daraz". Business Chief Asia.
  3. "Alibaba-Owned Daraz Says E-Commerce Demand in South Asia Surging". Bloomberg News.
  4. Browne, Ryan (8 May 2018). "Alibaba expands South Asia footprint, snapping up online marketplace Daraz".
  5. "Subscribe to read". Financial Times.
  6. Abudheen, Sainul. "Rocket's Daraz a hit not just in Pakistan, but in Bangladesh and Myanmar too". e27. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  7. Asia, Digital News (27 January 2015). "Rocket Internet's APACIG launches e-commerce site in Bangladesh, Myanmar". Digital News Asia. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  8. Editors, RetailTech Innovation. "Online retailer Daraz raises $55 M". Enterprise Innovation. Archived from the original on 7 October 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2015.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  9. Release, Press (24 September 2015). "Daraz, an online retailer, has secured $55M in Funding – Tech Prolonged". Tech Prolonged. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  10. Lunden, Ingrid. "UK government leads $56 M round for Daraz, Rocket's Amazon clone in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan". TechCrunch. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  11. S. Noda III, Tomas (28 June 2016). "Rocket Internet merges Asia e-commerce startups Daraz, Kaymu - DealStreetAsia". DealStreetAsia. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  12. "Daraz and Kaymu set to join hands". HIP. 26 June 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  13. Husain, Osman. "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". TechinAsia.com. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  14. Russell, Jon. "Alibaba buys Rocket Internet's Daraz to expand its e-commerce empire into South Asia". TechCrunch. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  15. Editorial, Reuters. "Alibaba buys Rocket Internet's Pakistan e-commerce platform Daraz". Reuters. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  16. Release, Press. "Daraz Group Joins the Alibaba Ecosystem". www.daraz.com. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  17. "Daraz announces its mission to "Make it easy to do business anywhere in era of digital economy"x". The Frontier Post. 2019-03-30. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
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