KKR Invesrs $45M Into GrowSari, A Business-to-business Platform For Filipino MSMEs
KKR invesrs $45M into GrowSari, a business-to-business platform for Filipino MSMEs
In a press release issued today, GrowSari, a Manila-based startup that assists small businesses in growing and digitizing, announced that KKR will lead a $45 million Series C round of funding. The funds will be used to expand the company's financial products as well as its reach into new regions throughout the country. The Series C round is still in progress, and the startup reports that it has already exceeded its target size, with the final composition of the round still to be determined.
GrowSari had previously raised a total of $30 million in funding prior to its Series C round. GrowSari was last covered by TechCrunch in June 2021, when the company announced the completion of its Series B funding round. Since then, the company has expanded its service area from 100 to 220 municipalities, and its customer base has grown to 100,000 micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) store owners, among other achievements.
It was founded in 2016, and GrowSari provides nearly every service required by small- to medium-sized retailers, such as neighborhood stores selling daily necessities (known as sari-saris), roadside and market shops, and pharmacies.
For example, it operates a wholesale marketplace where it sells products from leading fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands such as Unilever, Procter & Gamble, and Nestle, among other companies. It collaborates with over 200 providers, including telecommunications companies, financial technology companies, and subscription plans, to enable sari-saris to provide customers with services such as top-ups and bill payments.
GrowSari can also be used to launch e-commerce stores and obtain short-term working capital loans for the purchase of inventory by sari-sari operators. Digital wallets and cash-in services are among the other financial products offered by the startup, which is also exploring partnerships with other providers to offer remittance, insurance, and loans.
A portion of the additional funding will go toward expanding into Visayas and Mindanao, two of the Philippines' major geographical regions. The company's ultimate goal is to cover all 1.1 million "mom and pop" stores in the country.
