Singapore-based e27 raises $2.2mn funding
Singapore-based media company e27 has raised $2.21 million in a Series A round led by TechTemple Group. The other investors include Linear Venture, Convergence Ventures, Venturecraft, Spacemob, and Douglas Khoo, Co-founder of Qunar.
Founded in 2007, the platform aims to empower entrepreneurs with the tools needed to build and grow their companies. The company drives digital entrepreneurship in the Southeast Asia region through its platform where it connects all from the ecosystem.
The firm provides entrepreneurs with tools such as information, talent, customers, and a fundraising platform.
The platform updates the ecosystem with news, profiles, and interviews with startups and investors in the region. It claims to have a database of over 11,000 Southeast Asian companies and updates pertaining to investor information. The firm’s fundraising platform provides for the basic needs of entrepreneurs seeking funding; a simple search tool connects startups with investors.
“Furthermore, we strongly believe that for growth and traction — and more than just funding alone, this is via the marketplace we launched in October 2015, this is where companies look for services (mainly B2B) to acquire, e.g. payment services, cloud services, email marketing services. And this provides an opportunity for startups to reach out to our user base. We also focus on business matching at our Echelon events, where we actively promote startups and services at the events, to allow and to facilitate customers acquiring technology,” said Mohan Belani, Co-founder of e27.
Commenting on the newly raised funds, Belani said,
We see a very very strong opportunity in working with the investors in China, because the Chinese ecosystem is far ahead of Southeast Asia's, and there are entrepreneurs and investors that have gone through the Southeast Asian path and built an amazing ecosystem. The funds will also help us to invest in our online platform, and to invest in amazing people that share our same mission and vision. And more importantly, through combining the Chinese and Southeast Asian ecosystems, learning from some of the best entrepreneurs and investors in the world, we strongly believe that we can contribute to the growth of Southeast Asia, and the building of the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem, which is what we have always wanted to do since the founding of this company.
Last year, the company had raised $650,000. Now, with this group of investors from Singapore, China, Indonesia, and Malaysia, e27 will leverage these strategic connections to benefit entrepreneurs across Southeast Asia with broadened knowledge resources and an expanded database of funding opportunities — whether it is to enter new markets, receive funding, or explore strategic partnerships with China.
Though the company is heavily focused on the Southeast Asian market, it is now also looking out for opportunities, partnerships, and ways to participate in the Indian tech ecosystem.
At present, the company is competing with Tech In Asia, which has so far raised $7 million. The other competitors include Deal Street Asia and Digital News Asia, which focus on tech news across Southeast Asia.