Transaction marks KKR’s latest technology
investment in the merchant enablement space
Latest round to support GrowSari’s expansion
and strengthen its financial services capabilities
KKR, a leading global investment firm, and GrowSari (the
“Company”), a B2B e-commerce platform serving micro, small and
medium-sized enterprises (“MSMEs”) in the Philippines, today
announced the signing of definitive agreements under which KKR will
invest US$45 million to lead GrowSari’s Series C funding round.
KKR’s investment in GrowSari will support the Company’s expansion
into more regions across the Philippines and strengthen its
financial services capabilities.
This press release features multimedia. View
the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220125005949/en/
Founded in 2016, GrowSari is a leading tech-enabled B2B platform
that helps the Philippines’ small physical retail stores, including
neighborhood retail shops (sari-sari stores), roadside and market
shops (carinderia), and pharmacies, enhance their service levels
and access a wider range of products and value-adding services.
This allows the stores to provide local communities with more
comprehensive offerings, including digital services.
Today, GrowSari is present in 220 municipalities across the
regions of Luzon and offers over a hundred types of different
services including making bill payments, telco reloads, and wallet
top-ups, as well as procurement services for common retail goods
and pharmaceutical medicines. Strong tailwinds around digital
adoption, proximity shopping, and economic growth in the
Philippines have also contributed to a 6.5x increase in gross
merchandise value for GrowSari since 2019 and a 2.5x increase in
revenue over the same period. In 2021, the Singapore Venture
Capital & Private Equity Association named GrowSari as ‘Venture
Capital Deal of the Year.’
Ashish Shastry, Co-Head of Asia Pacific Private Equity and Head
of Southeast Asia at KKR, said, “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. We are excited to support the GrowSari team to
achieve their expansion ambitions.”
Speaking on the latest investment, Reymund ‘ER’ Rollan, CEO and
Co-Founder of GrowSari, said, “We will be accelerating our presence
nationally to more municipalities and cities in the Philippines.
Our investments will be focused towards expanding in Visayas and
Mindanao this 2022. This will bring us a step closer to our mission
of creating a positive socio-economic impact to the lives of more
MSME owners and the communities they serve. In addition, 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. The industry,
operational and financial expertise and network of KKR will be a
great complement to the passion, dedication and strong culture of
excellence that GrowSari has built over the years.”
Louis Casey, KKR’s growth technology lead in Southeast Asia,
added, “GrowSari is aligned with one of our core technology
investment themes in Southeast Asia, which is supporting MSMEs with
software and financial services. Reymund and the team at GrowSari
are excellent operators who have built an impressive flywheel that
is powered by a number of proprietary applications. They have also
built a very efficient and repeatable go-to-market motion that is
underpinning their impressive growth. We look to leverage our
global experience, regional connectivity and flexible capital to
help GrowSari achieve its ambitious growth objectives.”
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 Gokongwei family-controlled JG Summit,
Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc., Wavemaker Partners, Saison Capital,
and the Investment & Capital Corporation of the
Philippines.
The ongoing Series C round is significantly oversubscribed,
having drawn keen interest from new and existing investors. The
round’s final composition is currently being finalized.
KKR is making its investment in GrowSari from its Asia next
generation technology strategy. GrowSari is KKR’s latest investment
into companies that augment the digital transformation of MSMEs
through software and financial technology. KKR’s global investments
in the sector include KiotViet, a merchant platform for MSMEs in
Vietnam, Yayoi, a software developer, distributor, and support
service provider for small and medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”) in
Japan, MYOB, a leading Australian online business management
company, NetStars, the operator of Japan’s largest QR code payment
gateway, Qonto, a leading European business finance solution for
freelances and SMEs in France, Cegid, one of the largest European
providers of enterprise software headquartered in France, and Exact
Software, a provider of business and accounting software in the
Netherlands. Additional details of the transaction are not
disclosed.
About KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative
asset management and capital markets and insurance solutions. KKR
aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a
patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class
people, and supporting growth in its portfolio companies and
communities. KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private
equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that
manage hedge funds. KKR’s insurance subsidiaries offer retirement,
life, and reinsurance products under the management of The Global
Atlantic Financial Group. References to KKR’s investments may
include the activities of its sponsored funds and insurance
subsidiaries. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc.
(NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on
Twitter @KKR_Co.
About GrowSari
GrowSari started in 2016 as an ordering platform servicing
roughly sari-sari stores in three cities. Today, GrowSari powers
the management, growth, and analytics infrastructure across 220
municipalities and is now further expanding. In addition to
providing credit and affordable, on-demand inventory, GrowSari’s
platform also generates crucial data & insights into the
operations of these stores for manufacturers and distributors to
build their strategies and campaigns upon. GrowSari has also
integrated multiple-microservices such as telco load, bills pay,
e-commerce, Wi-Fi and other eservices, allowing store-owners to
maximize their capital in one wallet and easily expand their
business.
GrowSari is certified as a Great Place To Work® in the
Philippines. The GrowSari leadership team is composed of young and
dynamic industry leaders who built their expertise from working
with global corporations and consultancies including P&G,
Unilever, J&J, and Boston Consulting Group as well as Uber,
Globe Telecom, and GCash.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220125005949/en/
For KKR: Wei Jun Ong +65 6922 5813 WeiJun.Ong@kkr.com For
GrowSari: Reynaldo Rubio (+63) 9190733255
reynaldo.Rubio@growsari.com
KKR (NYSE:KKR)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
KKR (NYSE:KKR)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024