Guess who just raised $5M? It's Kilo, the B2B e-commerce marketplace that connects thousands of MSMEs to wholesalers. The pre-Series A round was co-led by Altos Ventures (its first investment in Vietnam) and January Capital.

• Since its October 2020 launch, its net merchandise value has shot up 320x.
• Its founder Kartick Narayan was a former Groupon, Coupang and Tiki exec.
• Its business model is similar to Indonesia's GudangAda ($100M Series B and backed by Sequoia Capital) and Ula ($110M Series B and backed by Jeff Bezos).

Why it matters. Like much of SEA, MSMEs in Vietnam are the backbone of retail— representing up to 80% of purchases. Digitizing them and helping them survive and thrive is key to Vietnam's $180B retail market.

🛒 All about Kilo

Kilo currently has thousands of retail partners across Vietnam's 24 provinces.

One-stop shop. Forget buying from multiple suppliers, which results in a ton of different shipments, prices and payments. Instead, buy all your inventory from wholesalers on Kilo's online marketplace in just one checkout.

• It has everything you need at great and consistent prices.

Automation. Kilo knows that its partners usually sell on multiple online platforms, but it's hard to manage. You'll typically need to keep checking your stocks and updating each platform.

• It helps you automate your inventory across each sales channel.

💰 What's with the $$$?

Kilo will be growing its team 4x by the end of 2022 (keep your CVs ready!). Also, get ready for a ton of new features. Financing, logistics and easy online store creation are in the works.