Peddlr, a Philippines-based inventory and business financial management firm, has raised $4.3 million in seed funding to help micro and small businesses in the Southeast Asian country become digital and improve their financial literacy.
Patamar Capital and Crestone Venture Capital lead the fresh investment round. Existing investors Foxmont Capital Partners and Kaya Founders, as well as new investors January Capital, 500 Southeast Asia, Nordstar, Vulpes Ventures, KDV Capital, and 335 Fund, are all participating.
Summit Media President Lisa Gokongwei; Zalora Group CCO Giulio Xiloyannis; Zalora Group COO Rostin Javadi; Founder and CEO of Kippa Kennedy Ekezie-Joseph; Co-Founder Antler, Managing Partner Antler Asia, Jussi Salovaara; Partner-Antler Indonesia, Subir Lohani; Associate Partner-Antler Southeast Asia, Markus Bruderer; XA Network The goal of the organization is to empower Southeast Asia’s IT community to create inclusive innovation.
Peddlr is an “OS lite” mobile POS tool for micro and small enterprises that helps them manage inventory and basic accountancy. The program also includes digital ledgers and a shop, allowing small enterprises to sell their products online.
Now, Peddlr’s total fundraising stands at around $4.8 million, just seven months after the firm debuted in July 2021 with a $500,000 Pre-Seed Round in November 2021.
The company will be able to use the increased funding to aid 1 million micro and small companies by the end of 2022. This would also hasten the release of new software features and digital products that will aid its customers, particularly sari-sari retailers and other micro-entrepreneurs, in increasing their earnings.
Inanc Balci, Co-Founder of Crestone Venture Capital, an Emerging Markets Fintech Venture Capital Fund, said the MSMEs ability to grow in the Philippines was hampered by a lack of digitalization, data, and credit.
With Peddlr’s ledger app, this will assist MSMEs in leapfrogging and growing their operations sustainably, Balci added.
Beau Seil, Partner, and Co-Founder of Patamar Capital, Southeast Asia’s leading impact-driven venture capital firm, said they believe in the power of nano and micro-enterprises to create more resilient local economies.
The Peddlr MSME community was founded, and it currently has over 28k active users on their Facebook Group who encourage each other to embrace technology by giving insights and building a support structure that keeps everyone on the group motivated, especially in the face of the current Pandemic.
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