Meet Markato! Their online wholesale marketplace lets independent brands from the US and Europe reach consumers in Asia. And they just launched in Hong Kong. 

• Oh, and they also raised a $5M seed. 

Investor check. Lightspeed led the round. 

• Scoop: This is their first investment in Hong Kong. 

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🖼️ Shop lifestyle goods

Ladies, ready to shop? Markato sells a collection of candles and home fragrances, kitchen items, art and decor.

Oh, and they also sell jewelry, skincare, and bath and body care products. 

• They offer 60-day buy now pay later payment options and 90-day free returns.
• Their brands? Nala Care (natural wellness), Gisel B (jewelry), Jore Copenhagen (ceramic), and more!

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✈️ How Markato works

When it comes to shipping their products overseas, indie brands get the short end of the stick. Why? Shipping their products overseas is expensive!

Markato it easier for boutique brands to sell their products to overseas retailers and consumers.

• For retailers. They give personalized product recommendations and offer them wholesale prices from European, American, and Australian brands. 
• For brands. They get analytics that helps them make decisions about pricing, production, and more!

How they lower prices? Markato integrated with payments infrastructure that saves on foreign currency and transaction costs. They also secured low cross-border rates to reduce shipping.

• So far, they have over 4k products listed on the site and have worked with 200 brands.

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🇸🇬 Who’s next?

Singapore, you’re their next destination! They’ll also be expanding across the region soon.

• Plus, they’ll build their engineering, product, and business development teams.
• Oh, and they’ll also Work on their tech, double down on their logistics infrastructure, and develop their own data analytics. 

Their growth plan. Work with 2,000 buyers and 2,000 brands over the next few months.