Myanmar-based e-commerce startup Ezay has raised $200,000 in a funding round led by Seiji Kurokoshi. In a separate development, Eatsy Indonesia, a local unit of Singapore-based food ordering and payment mobile app, has suspended operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Myanmar’s Ezay raises $200k from Seiji Kurokoshi
Yangon-based rural e-commerce startup Ezay has raised $200,000 in a funding round led by Seiji Kurokoshi, according to an announcement.
Kurokoshi is a Japanese impact investor who pioneered social impact bonds for single mothers.
Founded in August 2019 by a former Oway employee Kyaw Min Swe, Ezay is a mobile platform connecting rural mom-and-pop stores with wholesalers.
Ezay, which has over 1,600 retailers to date, is currently working in partnership with leading Myanmar MFIs to offer finance to these shopkeepers, 75 per cent of which have had no access to finance earlier.
The startup plans to expand its coverage across the country and also widen its service offerings. The company aims to serve 8,000 retailers by the end of 2020.
Myanmar-based early-stage investment firm Emerging Markets Entrepreneurs (EME), which led a six-digit seed round in Ezay last November, also joined in the current round of investment.
Eatsy Indonesia shuts down ops temporarily
Eatsy Indonesia, a local unit of Singapore-based food ordering and payment mobile app, has announced on its website that it is suspending its operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eatsy allowed customers to order beforehand and pay at local eateries and coffee shops.
On its website, the firm says ‘the team has taken the difficult decision to take a pause on our operations from April 1 2020 until further notice.’ However, it did not mention for how long the firm will take such a measure.
DealStreetAsia has reached out to Eatsy for comments but had not received a response yet.
Eatsy had launched its operations in the archipelago in November last year, catering to the Greater Jakarta area.
The app had announced early last year that it had raised $550,000 in a seed funding round led by early-stage venture capital firm East Ventures.
The firm so far has reportedly raised more than $1 million in funding from investors, including East Ventures, Quest Ventures, Wee Teng Wen (Lo&Behold) and the three co-founders of RedMart.
