GrowSari, a business-to-business e-commerce platform serving micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in the Philippines, secured a $45-million (P2.25-billion) investment from KKR, a leading global investment firm under the Series C funding round.
Under the definitive agreement, KKR’s investment will support GrowSAri’s expansion into more regions across the Philippines and strengthen its financial service capabilities.
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 6.5-fold increase in gross merchandise value for GrowSari since 2019 and a 2.5-fold growth in revenue over the same period. In 2021, the Singapore Venture Capital & Private Equity Association named GrowSari as ‘Venture Capital Deal of the Year.’
“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,” said Ashish Shastry, co-head of Asia Pacific Private Equity and head for Southeast Asia at KKR, said,
Speaking on the latest investment, GrowSari co-founder and chief executive Reymund ‘ER’ Rollan said the company will accelerate its 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,” said Rollan, who studied Business Administration at the University of the Philippines. He completed his secondary education at Quezon City High School.
“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,” said Rollan.
Louis Casey, KKR’s growth technology lead in Southeast Asia, said: “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 raised funds 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 oversubscribed, having drawn keen interest from new and existing investors. The round’s final composition is being finalized.
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.