Bangladesh-based ecommerce startup PriyoShop is looking to add US$5 million in a bridge funding round to its cart.
The company told Tech in Asia that it already has US$1.5 million in soft commitment from its existing investors and an undisclosed Singapore-based venture capital firm.
Founded in 2020, PriyoShop handles commerce through its app and manages logistics in locations like Dhaka and Chattogram through its own fleet. The company said that third-party logistics companies then take on shipping across the rest of Bangladesh.
PriyoShop was established by Asikul Alam Khan and Dipty Mandal. Together, they lead a young team of 160 people (the average age of employees is 27).
Over the last 16 months, the company saw a 192x surge in orders and a 327x growth in gross merchandise value (GMV). This uptick came right around the time the firm’s founders pivoted PriyoShop – which started as a B2C ecommerce project – to an on-demand B2B marketplace.
“We don’t buy goods, we don’t carry inventory, and we don’t sell anything. Our only burn is for operations and salary,” Khan said.
From July 2021 to October this year, the firm logged over 1.3 million items delivered, helping it register an annualized GMV of US$50 million.
According to the company, it will use part of the capital it’s looking to raise to add buy now, pay later support into its platform. It also looks to invest the money into scaling its operations and acquiring its target of 100,000 new customers.
Before PriyoShop’s efforts to raise funding in the bridge round, it bagged pre-seed funding from SBK Tech Venture, followed by a seed round from Accelerating Asia, BANSEA, and Singapore-based angel investors.
It also received additional seed funding from SOSV, Accelerating Asia, Asymmetry Ventures, Sabr Capital, South Asia Tech Partners, Flagship Venture, and other angel backers.
