The social e-commerce trend continues to be hot, and RateS completes its A round of financing!

Data shows that the total amount of social e-commerce orders in Southeast Asia doubled in the first half of 2020 compared with the same period in 2019, and the total value of goods in the entire region increased threefold.

Against this background, the development of social e-commerce platforms in Southeast Asia has also attracted much attention.

Recently, it was reported that Indonesian social e-commerce platform RateS announced that it has obtained a Series A financing led by Vertex Ventures and Genesis Alternative Ventures, but the amount of financing has not yet been disclosed.

RateS ’ Series A funding round aims to accelerate market penetration into Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in Indonesia. This is achieved through support for RateS’ extensive dealer network, which has more than nearly one million dealers.

It is understood that RateS provides an integrated service that provides the public with centralized procurement, transactions, logistics, payment infrastructure and online sales training, and this integrated service of RateS will also provide great convenience for consumers.

"For us, the measure of success for RateS is how much we can help grow our resellers' revenue and business," said Jake Goh, CEO and co-founder of RateS, in a statement. "These resellers have seen revenue increases of up to 50% since joining RateS."

RateS' shared vision is to revolutionize social commerce through technology, create digital enterprises, and improve consumers' digital literacy, enabling merchants to run their businesses smoothly and profitably.

Currently, social e-commerce in Indonesia has unlimited potential and is developing at a rapid pace.

McKinsey's report pointed out that social commerce is defined as the process of buying and selling physical goods through social media platforms, where payment and shipping are managed separately. It is expected that by 2022, the social commerce market size will grow to US$25 billion.

Today, RateS has more and more dealers, and by 2020, RateS's growth rate has more than doubled and reached various second- or third-tier cities in Indonesia.

To date, RateS has covered more than 400 cities and has a digital-based dealer network in Indonesia. RateS agents can earn 30% more per item sold on average compared to other resale platforms.

Judging from the current situation of major giants competing for the market, the e-commerce market in Southeast Asia has developed into an industry competing for profits.

On the other hand, RateS has found an effective way to penetrate various cities in Indonesia, which not only saves costs but also shows that it has a vast untapped market potential .

Social e-commerce

Southeast Asia