A 'mom and pop' street store in Ha Noi. — Photo sapo.vn

Telio, Viet Nam’s first Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce platform, has successfully raised a US$25 million Series A funding round led by investor Tiger Global.

Telio was founded in November 2018 with the aim of connecting small retailers with brands and wholesalers on a centralised platform that delivers more choice, better pricing and more efficient logistics.

Viet Nam’s large retail landscape is still dominated by traditional, fragmented trade channels, said the company’s Founder and CEO, Bui Sy Phong, at a press briefing in Ha Noi on Thursday.

Small ‘mom and pop’ street shops account for over 60 per cent of Fast-moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sales in urban areas and over 90 per cent in rural Viet Nam, according to Kantar, the world’s leading data, insights and consulting company.

'Mom and pop' retailers in Viet Nam typically need to call 50 to 80 wholesalers and distributors to place individual orders, which can take up to a week to arrive, according to Phong.

“Using Telio’s smartphone app, a retailer can find, select and order products from a wide range of brands and distributors,” he said.

Telio is also building a network of warehouses to ensure next day delivery, which vastly improves a small shop owner’s ability to manage both stock and cash flow.

The company now serves over 3,000 retailers in Ha Noi and HCM City.

The company plans to open in four more cities and sign up 15,000 retailers to the platform by June 2020. — VNS