The company will use the newly-raised funding to expand its services

Vietnamese e-commerce portal Sendo.vn has scored a US$51 million funding from eight investors including SBI Holdings, BEENO, SoftBank Ventures Korea, and Daiwa PI Partners, according to a report by Nikkei Asian Review.

SBI and BEENO previously took part in a US$18 million Series A investment in the company in 2014. The latter, which offers cross-border e-commerce services, is looking to link up Sendo’s offerings with its own.

Sendo will use the funding to expand its services, with the aim to move over US$1 billion in merchandise sales by 2020.

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Launched in 2012 by Vietnamese software conglomerate FPT Corporation, Sendo lets individuals or businesses set up an online shop on their platform, similar to Singapore’s Qoo10 or Shopee. It offers over 10 million products from 300,000 sellers.

The rise of smartphone usage and the ease of use of its apps have led to a rapid growth of the e-commerce industry in Vietnam. Collectively, e-commerce companies in the country are expected to reap US$2.8 billion in revenue this year  — an annual growth of 30 per cent — according to a report by Statista,

While Sendo is a major player in the Vietnamese e-commerce industry, it isn’t the only company that has caught the eye of foreign conglomerates.

One of its chief rivals, Tiki.vn raised US$44 million from Chinese internet giant JD.com last year. There are also a few other competitors racing to expand their market share. They include Alibaba’s Lazada and SEA’s Shopee, both of which are leading Sendo in terms of monthly visits, according to iPrice, with the former having at least a twofold lead.

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Image Credit: Sendo.vn

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