Brief: Vietnam’s Tiki raises $258m in AIA-led round after e-grocery business grows 2,000%

• Vietnamese e-commerce platform Tiki has raised $258 million in funding. The Series E round was led by Hong Kong-based global insurance giant AIA.
• Other participating investors included UBS, Mirae Asset, Taiwan Mobile, AppWorks, STIC Investments, and Yuanta Financial Holdings, among others.
• Tiki launched a fresh produce delivery business, TikiNgon, last year. In 2018 it set up an express delivery service, TikiNow, to deliver select food products and other items to customers in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City within two hours of them placing an order.

Why it matters:

Tiki — which is reportedly exploring an IPO in the US in 2022 or 2023 — said it recently reached 20 million registered users on its platform.

It also claimed that its TikiNgon fresh e-grocery business had grown 2,000% year-on-year in Q3 2021, while TikiNow memberships grew 3x over the same period.

It saw a massive boost in users during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly in the fresh food delivery segment, Bloomberg reports.

Founder and CEO Tran Ngoc Thai Son told Bloomberg that the Series E capital will be invested in logistics, including artificial intelligence and robotics to manage inventory, orders, and deliveries.

“This shows the belief of the global capital markets in Vietnam’s growth and potential,” he said.