GrowSari Raises $77M to Expand in Philippines

Philippines-based B2B platform GrowSari has raised $77.5 million in a new funding round to help fuel its expansion across the Philippines.

As Philstar reported Monday (March 28), participants in the round included the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), KKR, and Temasek Group.

Founded in 2016 and based in Manila, GrowSari is a B2B platform that helps small physical retail stores, neighborhood shops (otherwise known as sari-sari stores), market eateries (carinderia) and pharmacies provide expanded services and products.

The company has a presence in several hundred communities, offering services that include bill payments, telco reloads and wallet-top-ups, in addition to retail merchandise and pharmaceuticals to more than 100,000 stores.

In a statement on Monday, IFC said the new investments in GrowSari brought the total funding for the company to around $110 million — the largest amount ever in the B2B and micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) space in the Philippines, and the biggest level of funding ever for the region.

As PYMNTS previously reported, the company raised $45 million in a funding round earlier this year.

Read more: Philippines’ B2B Platform GrowSari Raises $45M From KKR

In discussing its decision to back GrowSari, IFC pointed to the key role MSMEs play in the economy and the impact COVID had on them. These businesses account for more than 90% of enterprises in the Philippines and 63% of the nation’s total employment.

The organization said it hopes this investment will get other small businesses to turn to digitization.

“Businesses that ignore digital technology put themselves at an immediate disadvantage,” said Stephanie von Friedeburg, IFC’s senior vice president of operations. “Our investment will enable Growsari to expand digital adoption and financial services for MSMEs, which is critical to keep them competitive, and for a resilient and inclusive recovery.”