MANILA, Philippines – E-commerce startup GrowSari has raised total funding of $110 million (around P5.7 billion), the largest amount ever in the business-to-business (B2B) and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) space in the Philippines.

This comes after the company raised $77.5 million in its latest Series C round. Investors included the International Finance Corporation (IFC), KKR, and Pavilion Capital of the Temasek Group.

“We are very grateful for the confidence shown by existing and new investors as we try to transform the MSME space in the Philippines,” said GrowSari chief executive officer and co-founder Reymund Rollan.

“Not only will this funding allow us to fuel our growth, but this will also help us bring top global quality talent in operations, technology, and data science into the startup ecosystem of the Philippines.”

Founded in 2016, GrowSari is a platform that supports sari-sari stores or mom-and-pop stores, carinderias or eateries, pharmacies, and other roadside and market shops with tools to manage and grow their business.

“Currently, GrowSari offers services including telco loading and bills payment for local stores, while equipping MSMEs with credit to ease working capital constraints.”

GrowSari aims to use the funds for its national expansion. From a base of 1,000 sari-sari stores in three cities back in 2018, GrowSari has grown to service over 100,000 stores in over 220 municipalities across Luzon.

Rollan said they already rolled out in the Visayas, particularly in Iloilo, and intend to launch in Mindanao soon.

Meanwhile, IFC said it is helping GrowSari to develop an accurate credit scoring model to accelerate access to credit for stores. – Rappler.com

$1 = P52.03