Indonesian company Bukalapak has acquired a majority stake in iPrice Group (iPrice), the Kuala Lumpur-based price comparison platform.
Bukalapak is an e-commerce company listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange, the first Indonesian tech unicorn to do so. It acts as a marketplace to facilitate online trading for small and medium enterprises in Indonesia.
According to a press release on the acquisition, Bukalapak has decided to shift its focus from head-to-head competition with other marketplaces such as Tokopedia and Shopee to building or acquiring niche marketplaces and accelerating their growth.
The company believes iPrice has built such a niche market over the past eight years. With a mission to save people money, iPrice allows shoppers to compare prices, promotions and discounts across a catalog of eight billion offers from thousands of sellers and merchants.
The price comparison site has reportedly helped more than 100 million consumers across seven Southeast Asian countries save money.
“I have known David and the team for years and have always been impressed with their work, and recently the opportunity to work more closely together,” said Willix Halim, CEO of Bukalapak.
“With Bukalapak’s extensive experience in e-commerce and iPrice’s loyal user base and proprietary technology, we are confident we can unlock the full potential of the platform.”
A good price to pay
In March 2022, iPrice raised US$5 million from Japanese companies Itochu Corporation and KDDI Open Innovation Fund III.
Back in 2018, it also received funding from South Korea’s Naver’s LINE Ventures.
According to a press release, iPrice investors, including Itochu and Naver, welcomed the deal.
“After iPrice was forced to reduce its longer-term bets last June due to poor financial market conditions, we knew we would need a partner to unlock the true value of our assets,” said Heinrich Wendel, co-founder. from iPrice.
Forced to significantly downsize the team, the startup retooled to explore new ways to cost-effectively grow the business.
The startup believes it can now leverage Bukalapak’s expertise to ease this transition. The partnership will also help iPrice expand its services into new verticals.
“We are specifically looking at the gaming vertical and Australia as an exciting new market as the first steps,” Heinrich shared with the Vulcan Post.
“Based on initial research, consumer demand in these verticals/geographies looks very promising, but of course, it remains to be proven that they can also meaningfully contribute to the business’s top line.”
Meanwhile, when asked if this acquisition could mean Bukalapak’s entry into the Malaysian market, Heinrich shared that Bukalapak has always focused on Indonesia as their top priority.
The press release assures that iPrice will continue to operate as an independent entity following this acquisition. This means that the price comparison platform will maintain a user-neutral position, working with a wide range of merchants and sellers to provide its service.
- Learn more about iPrice here.
- Read other articles we’ve written about iPrice here.
Featured Image Credit: iPrice Group