GrowSari, a B2B e-commerce platform serving micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), just secured fresh investments of $45 million in the Series C funding round led by KKR, a global investment firm. KKR’s investment in GrowSari will support the company’s expansion into more regions across the Philippines and strengthen its financial services capabilities.
“We are pleased to invest in GrowSari, an innovative company with tremendous potential to digitally transform the operations of Filipino MSMEs, who are crucial contributors to the country’s economy and a pillar of the business community,” said Ashish Shastry, Co-Head of Asia Pacific Private Equity and Head of Southeast Asia at KKR. “We are excited to support the GrowSari team to achieve their expansion ambitions.”
As a tech-enabled B2B platform, GrowSari enables micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) in the Philippines with tech services that would help store owners digitally transform their businesses. The services could be in the form of apps for payments, bill payments, e-wallet top-ups, and even telco reloads.
B2B e-commerce player GrowSari taps top industry leaders to grow the platform
Founded in 2016, GrowSari now serves a wide range of MSMEs in 220 cities and town Luzon, the northern part of the Philippines and where the capital Manila sits.
“Our investments will be focused toward expanding in Visayas and Mindanao this 2022,” said Reymund Rollan, co-founder and CEO, GrowSari. “We are doubling down on our capabilities to improve the overall customer experience and look to expand our ability to provide sari-sari stores access to credit and basic financial services, which is a key pain point for MSMEs who have limited access.
Prior to KKR’s investment, GrowSari had raised funding from global financial and strategic investors, including Temasek-affiliated Pavilion Capital, Tencent, the International Finance Corporation, the Gongkowei family-controlled JG Summit, Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc., Wavemaker Partners, Saison Capital, and the Investment & Capital Corporation of the Philippines.
GrowSari is KKR’s latest investment into companies that augment the digital transformation of MSMEs through software and financial technology.