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Bangladeshi startups have brought in over $125.7 million over the past eight-and-a-half months. But is there a hospitable ecosystem to sustain and foster their development?

“Truck Lagbe” – a Bangladeshi startup – recently received $4 million funding in Series A from International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector investment wing of the World Bank. IDLC VC fund co-invested with IFC in this deal. “Chaldal” – another rising e-commerce platform – received $10 million worth of foreign funds for expansion in series C. Earlier, “Shop up” also received Tk6.4 billion ($75 million).

Over the past eight-and-a-half months, Bangladeshi startups have raised funds of $125.7 million, which is 30% of the $419 million – raised since 2010.

In light of these recent developments, it is time we take a look at the startup ecosystem in Bangladesh.

Source: https://www.tbsnews.net/thoughts/startup-ecosystem-bangladesh-current-status-and-future-outlook-313441#.YWFHCMCcJao.facebook

Online-based domestic tourism start-up Go Zayaan has recently received an investment of $26 lakh, approximately Tk22 crore.

The investment is led by Wavemaker Partners, one of the largest technology companies in Southeast Asia. The other investors are 1982 Ventures, Iterative and Century Oak Capital.

In the past, Brac Osiris Impact Ventures and OS Ventures invested here.

This new investment will be used to bring all the benefits related to technological development, human resources and travel under the online service.

Go Zayaan Founder Ridwan Hafeez said, “As a result of the information technology revolution in the country, people are getting used to using the Internet. We are working to upgrade the country’s tourism sector by using technology and to make Bangladesh a popular tourist destination in the world.”

Bangladesh’s tourism sector is growing very fast, but only 5% of business operation is done online. Go Zayaan is working to make travel more comfortable by bringing all the hotel and travel-related facilities online.

Source: https://www.tbsnews.net/dropped/startups/bangladeshi-travel-tech-startup-go-zayaan-raises-26-million-seed-investment-310045

We are delighted that Bangladesh is the proud host of the 25th World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) 2021, one of the most important and prestigious ICT events in the world in Dhaka, Bangladesh from November 11-14, 2021.

Welcome to Digital Bangladesh!

Bangladesh is a relatively young country, having gained independence a little over 50 years ago. Despite its youth, however, the country has made exceptional strides in reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity over the last five decades.

Sadia Afrin has her eyes squarely set on her dream job. Afrin, who lives in Bangladesh, is combining a passion for graphic design, cartoons, and information technology in the hopes of becoming a professional animator. Just one generation ago, this dream would have rested beyond the realm of possibility.

Growing up, her father was a migrant worker in Saudi Arabia and her mother was a stay-at-home parent.

“I first saw a computer and learned how to operate it at the Dhaka Mohila Polytechnic Institute,” she explains.

It was there that she first learned how cartoons could be created digitally.

“It is my dream to visit Japan one day and work in the field of animation,” she says.

Read More: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/immersive-story/2021/09/16/country-on-a-mission-the-remarkable-story-of-bangladeshs-development-journey?fbclid=IwAR1CqUCy5LF5brC07eImSs6kmaoWWmd8aMPhXBYcAqvckVPVg1oqnMFmADM

Founded in 2013, Bangladesh’s Chaldal was one of the first grocery delivery startups in the world to use the “dark” store model, picking up orders from its own warehouses instead of retail stores. Now the company says it is the country’s second-largest grocery player and the largest grocery e-commerce platform, with 27 warehouses located in four cities. Chaldal plans to expand into 15 new cities with a recently closed $10 million Series C. The round was led by Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder of Wise; Topia chief product officer Sten Tamkivi; and Xploration Capital, with participation from Mir Group.

When Chaldal launched in Dhaka eight years ago, it first picked up orders from local grocery stores. But most retailers in the city are very small and Chaldal was unable to guarantee items would be available for its customers. As a result, it decided to start building its own network of warehouses.

“When we started, Instacart was still the dominant model, but we took a different stand and said we want to deliver from our own warehouses because that leads to better inventory management,” co-founder and chief executive officer Waseem Alim told TechCrunch.

Now the company, a Y Combinator alum, has 27 warehouses located in four cities (Dhaka, Naryanganj, Chattogram and Jashore). It will expand to 15 new cities and plans to open 50 warehouses by the end of this year. In addition to its flagship grocery deliveries, Chaldal will expand GoGo Bangla, its on-demand logistics service for small e-commerce businesses, and the Chaldal Vegetable Network, which connects farmers directly to retailers. It also has plans to launch a direct-to-consumer pharmacy.

Chaldal claims that it has generated $40 million in revenue and performed 2.5 million orders over the past 12 months, growing about 120% year over year. It currently sells about 8,500 kinds of products and wants to expand that to 30,000 SKUs by December.

Alim says Chaldal’s core grocery operations have been profitable for a while now, and it only invests cash in building its technology or launching new verticals. One of the reasons it is able to make money is because Chaldal began batching deliveries early on, sending out riders from its full-time fleet with several orders at a time (it recently launched a part-time driver program). Batching also means Chaldal is able to offer deliveries in as little as 15 to 30 minutes.

Chaldal also worked closely with suppliers and manufacturers. “We are one of the most efficient online grocery retailers in the world in terms of amount of capital that has been invested in us versus our size, and that’s mainly because we have been really working with our supply chain and all those details,” Alim said.

For example, it sources produce directly from farms, and partners with large manufacturers like Unilever. “Walmart and stores like that don’t exist here; it’s mostly small retailers, so we’ve been able to have a huge impact on the supply chain side of things,” said Alim. “We are continuing to expand our microwarehouse model and have started supporting, as part of the delivery mechanism we have built, a lot of small merchants,” including many sellers who signed up for GoGo Bangla during the pandemic.

Source: techcrunch.com

ShopUp, a startup that is digitizing neighborhood stores in Bangladesh, has raised $75 million in a new financing round that is also the largest in the South Asian market.

Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures led ShopUp’s $75 million Series B round. Prosus Ventures as well as existing investors Flourish Ventures, Sequoia Capital India, and VEON Ventures also invested in the round. The new investment, which brings the startup’s all-time raise to over $100 million, is also Valar’s and Prosus’ first deals in Bangladesh, home to over 100 million internet users.

Like its neighboring nation, India, more than 95% of all retail in Bangladesh goes through neighborhood stores. There are about 4.5 million such mom-and-pop stores in the country and the vast majority of them have no digital presence.

As is the case in India, Pakistan and several other Asian countries, these small shops face a number of challenges in Bangladesh. They don’t have access to a large catalog for inventory selection and they can’t negotiate good pricing and faster delivery. And for these small retailers, more than two-thirds of all their sales are still processed on credit instead of cash or digital payments, creating a massive liquidity crunch.

ShopUp is attempting to address these challenges. It has built what it calls a full-stack business-to-business commerce platform. The startup provides a number of core services to these stores including a wholesale marketplace to secure inventory, logistics (including last-mile delivery to customers) and working capital. (Like many startups in India, ShopUp has banking and other partners to provide working capital.)

In the past year, the startup has expanded its offerings and deepened its footprints within Bangladesh, said Afeef Zaman, co-founder and chief executive of ShopUp​, in an interview with TechCrunch. For instance, it has partnered with country’s largest manufacturers, producers and distributors to secure and supply inventories to small shops, he said. And its logistics offerings is already the largest in Bangladesh.

The startup, like several others, was hit by the pandemic, but as the country begins to open up, ShopUp is beginning to see recovery, he said. Overall, business has grown over 13 times in the last one year, he said.

“The leadership team at ShopUp has shown strong execution capabilities over the last twelve months. They became clear market leaders with double digit growth across three products built for the underserved small businesses in Bangladesh. In fast-growing frontier economies like Bangladesh, small businesses are the primary driver of the economy. We are excited to partner with Afeef’s vision of building a connected ecosystem of products to fast-track their transition to the online economy,” said James Fitzgerald, founding partner of Valar Ventures, in a statement.

Zaman said the past one year has accelerated the adoption of technology among these small shops in Bangladesh. “They are using several internet-based services now. Not just ShopUp, but also messaging, and virtual payments,” he said. “We expect this to continue going forward.”

The Dhaka-headquartered startup, which has an office in Bangalore, where the large portion of its tech and engineering talent is based, plans to deploy the fresh funds in part to expand its team. As part of the new round, Zaman said the startup has expanded its employee stock option pool by three times.

“This investment marks our entry into Bangladesh – among the fastest-growing economies in the past decade. ShopUp has demonstrated strong execution focus in solving for a cross-section of needs for small businesses in a fragmented market. We are thrilled to support their efforts to empower millions of retailers and enable them to participate in the country’s economic growth,” said Ashutosh Sharma, Head of Investments for India at Prosus Ventures, in a statement.

Source: techcrunch.com