Singapore’s SCI Ecommerce Notches $38 Million Amid IPO Plans

SCI Ecommerce, headquartered in Singapore, raised $37 million as part of a growth funding round led by Asia Partners. The new capital comes as the startup said it’s moving toward an initial public offering (IPO) before the year is out.

The Southeast Asian FinTech and eCommerce solution provider said it will offer cross-border merchants the eCommerce tools they need as it plans expansion across Southeast Asia ahead of a possible Nasdaq listing.

“This fundraising round, the first large institutional equity investment in SCI’s history, is a strong endorsement of our integrated business model serving many of the world’s most iconic consumer brands,” Founder and CEO  Joseph Liu Jiannan said in a Tuesday (May 4) press release.

The round was also funded by SCI’s existing investors that include Alibaba co-founders, venture capital firm Jubilee Capital and other Southeast Asian technology entrepreneurs. SCI — for Singapore, China, Indonesia — counts customers like Unilever, Crayola, and Nestle among its clients with eCommerce operations in Southeast Asia and China.

Founded in 2014, SCI is looking to put the fresh capital to work by setting up teams in Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. The startup is also planning to expand its employee roster by at least 100 across Southeast Asia and China in the year ahead.

PYMNTS and FastSpring collaborated to launch the Cross-Border Merchant Friction Index in June 2020. According to the research, cross-border eCommerce experiences were easiest among merchants that personalized users’ checkout processes.

A new eCommerce report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said eCommerce sales rose to 19 percent of total retail sales globally, up from 16 percent.