Women

IN THE LOOP
Arif Naqvi,
founder and
Group Chief
Executive,
The Abraaj
Group
Shop ‘til you drop
Abraaj Group places big bets on Southeast Asia’s
e-commerce sector
Sensing an imminent growth
explosion in Southeast Asia’s
e-commerce industry, The
Abraaj Group has been busy
ramping up its portfolio
in the last two months, investing in
the region’s e-commerce and related
sectors. While Abraaj led a US$150
million funding in Indian e-grocery
startup Bigbasket in March, the Group
anchored a $30 million round of fundraising
in Singapore-based Ninja Van, a
tech enabled logistics provider in countries
including Singapore, Malaysia and
Indonesia in April. The Group did not
divulge its share of the total funding in
both deals but said that it is a leading
investor in both investments alongside
other existing and new investors. The
two deals take Abraaj’s Southeast Asia
portfolio up to 28 companies.
“The Southeast Asia e-commerce
sector is estimated to double in the
next four years, with total e-commerce
parcel delivery estimated to grow in
line with the sector. Last-mile logistics,
which is the backbone of e-commerce,
remains a bottleneck, and Ninja Van is
well-positioned to enhance the e-commerce
experience for customers and
businesses,” Omar Lodhi, Partner and
Head of Asia, The Abraaj Group, said
in a statement. As for Bigbasket, it is
reportedly Abraaj’s third’s investment
in India over the past five months. Both
e-commerce and logistics have been
sectors of interest for Abraaj, with its
prior investments including Turkish
online retailer Hepsiburada, Dubaibased
cab aggregator Careem, Urbano,
a courier service provider in Peru, and
Aramex, a leading logistics company in
the Middle East, among others. Abraaj
does not seem to be alone in pursuing
the region, given Chinese giant
Alibaba’s recent $1 billion investment
in Singapore-based e-commerce firm
Lazada.
Ninja Van uses a proprietary technology
to solve issues related to last-mile
logistics and plans to use the capital
to roll-out their delivery model in new
markets, including Thailand, Vietnam
and the Philippines, by the end
of 2016. Bigbasket, headquartered in
the Indian city of Bangalore, claims to
average five million monthly unique
visitors and execute over one million
e-grocery orders every month, and intends
to use the proceeds of this round
to finance its further expansion across
Tier II Indian cities, and increase its
product range among other purposes.
Interestingly, the startup’s fundraising
comes at a time when its key competitor
Grofers reportedly scaled back its
operations by pulling out of numerous
Indian cities citing obstacles in scaling
up and inefficient demand as key
reasons. A recent survey conducted by
Bain & Company and Google found that
consumers in the emerging market of
Southeast Asia are highly influenced
by digital content. “While 100 million
consumers in Southeast Asia have
made a digital purchase, a far larger
group -150 million- has taken the first
big step of researching products or
engaging with sellers online,” notes the
report.
Hello from the
other side
Sweden invites the world to talk
to its people (seriously)
Can you think of a country that has its own
personal phone number? In an act that
can only be described as one of the most
peculiar ways to celebrate an anniversary,
Sweden has become the first country to roll
out its own phone number - and it’s for anyone
in the world to dial up and talk about anything
to a citizen or resident in the country.
Launched by the Swedish Tourist Association,
the hotline is in commemoration of the 250th
anniversary of the country abolishing censorship
and passing a law to guarantee freedom
of the press in 1766. The association seeks
to “spark people’s curiosity about Sweden,”
calling out Swedish residents to participate by
registering as an ambassador and downloading
an app (available on both iOS and
Android) to receive international calls from
all over the globe. If you’re iffy about privacy,
the website states that conversations may
be recorded for security reasons, although
calls and phone numbers are anonymous and
never shared. How does it work? Outside
callers who dial the Swedish number will be
transferred through a switchboard and will
be randomly connected to a Swede who has
volunteered to be a cultural ambassador via
the hotline. Some countries such as United
Kingdom, Denmark, Poland, USA, Brazil,
Germany, France, Netherlands, Finland and
Norway will have the privilege to call Sweden
at the cost of a local phone call, while other
international calls will be charged depending
on the telco. Since launching on April 6, as
of May 2, the service had received more than
125,514 calls, amounting to 90 days and 10
hours with 31% of the calls originating from
the U.S., followed by the U.K. with 9%. Not
long after the announcement, a reporter from
The Verge tried it and commented it was a
way to get a “better sense of Sweden.” What
are you waiting for? Call the Swedish number
yourself at +46 771 793 336.
www.theswedishnumber.com
www.theswedishnumber.com
16 Entrepreneur may 2016